Catholic Video Gamers

The Cross and the Controller and other "Shameless Plugs"

2011-12-28T08:18:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine recently posted a link to this website on my facebook wall, and I figured I'd pass along the favors to the readership here. Check out "The Cross and the Controller" website here:

http://www.thecrossandthecontroller.com/tcatccom/Default.aspx

Also, a certain Colin Malcolm contacted me on facebook recently requesting that I ask around for Catholics who are involved in or interested in game development. While I find it hard to believe that Catholics AREN'T involved in this industry, I do think Colin presents an interesting question. How does a Catholic integrate game development into their Catholic faith? I'd love to hear from an actual game developer about this.

On a final note, Merry 4th day of Christmas!

Goodbye to Gamepro

2011-12-14T08:53:00.000-06:00

Although I'm a little late in reporting the news, apparently Gamepro is closing its doors.

I found out about the news while listening to the Retronauts podcast last night, where the group fondly reminisced over Gamepro's history. It made me very sad to think that the majority of its employees have to go through this holiday season without a job.

Gamepro was good to me throughout the years. I got my first issue in November 1995, as a replacement for Sega Visions. They sent a nice letter stating that they were ceasing publication, ,and that the remainder of my subscription would be filled with Gamepro.

And wow, Gamepro was amazing to this 12-year-old kid! Sega Visions was great, don't get me wrong, but Gamepro showed me games outside of the Sega spectrum. I read all about Chrono Trigger and fantasized about owning this game, even though I had no Super Nintendo to speak of. They had articles about going to school to become a game designer, features on hot arcade games, and an awesome editor named Johnny Ballgame (the greatest Gamepro editor that ever lived).

In fact, Gamepro was my first published article on anything! In issue #125 (December 1999), I wrote to Gamepro asking why the N64 only had kiddie and racing games, instead of more "mature" games like the Playstation. Gamepro replied that I needed to look around and see that the N64 had a lot more than just racing and kiddie games. True, the N64 had some amazing games, like Zelda and Goldeneye (two games I loved), but I still think I was right on the money when I said the N64 was filled with racing games.

I since quit subscribing to Gamepro in the early 2000s, and up until 7 years ago, I had all my back issues stored in the closet. I wish I had kept them, as they'd be a nice thing to relive.

Since this is a religious gaming web site, I wanted to post my memories as a reminder that the people we love and look up to are always in need of prayers. Definitely keep the good folks from Gamepro, and the others without work this holiday season, in your thoughts and prayers.

God bless.

Finding Catholicism in Final Fantasy VII

2011-11-05T11:02:00.001-05:00

Notice: This article contain spoilers related to the storyline of Final Fantasy VII. If you're looking to replay this game (about $10 on Playstation Network), you should really skip this article until you finish the game.

A friend of mine, who is the father of two, recently gave me some sound advice.

"Do everything you like to do now," Chris told me a few weeks ago when I asked if he had any parenting advice for me (my wife and I are expecting a baby girl in late February). And when it comes to video games, I've taken that advice to heart. I spent five-and-a-half hours completing Super Mario Bros. 3 without any warp whistles back in August, knowing full well that 330 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay will not happen with an infant in the house.

I then extended that logic to Final Fantasy VII. I've been playing that nonstop on my PSP. I never finished the game when I first played it in 1999, nor did I finish it when I tried again in early 2010 (foolishly selling my PSP for a DS, only to turn around and sell the DS to get a PSP 15 months later). This time though, I was determined to win the game.

And not just win the game. I wanted to get all the secrets. I wanted to actually succeed at that stupid Chocobo breeding, get the crazy awesome materia that I was too lazy to get on previous playthroughs, and feel a sense of unrushed accomplishment when I finished the game.

And I succeeded, well, for the most part. I did get that Gold Chocobo through breeding (his name was Neil), which allowed me to get the good materia, like Knights of the Round, but I didn't waste my time killing those giant monster weapons that roamed the planet (with the exception of Ultimate because I needed Cloud's ultimate weapon).

And last night, at 3:00 a.m., after nearly 50 hours of gameplay, I finally defeated the game. Were my Catholic sensibilities assailed throughout this game? Actually, I was able to find some positive elements in the game. Yes, a game that deals with people dying and returning to the planet's lifestream is far from what Christianity teaches. I realize that. But if you look past that, you can find elements and ideas our Faith would support and champion.

Such as:

• Life is sacred. The game shows why we should not try to "play God" when it comes trying to create life through artificial means. Professor Hojo tries to create clones of the main antagonist Sephiroth on two characters, Cloud (the main protagonist) and Zack. The result is a painful discovery by Cloud that many of his memories are falsely implanted. The game would agree with paragraph 2273 of the Catechism, which states "Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."

Sephiroth himself was created through natural conception, but during the pregnancy gets injected with "cells" from an alleged supernatural being. Again, I see this is as a definite violation of the Church's teaching that the integrity of a person should be respected.

Later in the game, Hojo tries to convince Cloud that he's nothing more than a failed experiment. But that line of thinking fails when Cloud's friends convince him that he's not a failure. Cloud realizes that, which to me says that no matter what bad things have happened to us in the past, we can still rise above those misfortunes and honor God with our lives.

And while not specific to FF7, the characters all feel the need to save the planet and it's people.

• Good intentions do not justify evil acts. In the beginning of the game, Cloud joins a terrorist group named AVALANCHE, which is made up two other main characters, Barrett and Tifa. The group is labeled a terrorist group because they end up destroying a MAKO reactor due to the (rightful) belief that the corporation SHINRA is killing the planet by using MAKO energy for electricity.

And while the group had good intentions (taking down Shinra), they soon realize that maybe they weren't doing the right thing after all. The Church would agree, as paragraph 1753 says "A good intention (for example, that of helping one's neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means."

Barrett and the group later realize that by destroying that reactor, a lot of innocent lives were lost, and that their terrorist actions made them no better than Shinra.

• Church is a sacred place. Early in the game, Cloud meets Aeris (I named her Sarah) inside of a Church. Despite the decrepit slums that surrounded the church, flowers managed to grow and look beautiful in this building. Even one of the villains orders his troops not to step on the flowers. I liked this respect that this church was afforded in the game.

• Our abilities are gifts from God. While the Materia system in this game is inherently flawed (you can just slap any of the materia onto the characters and they immediately know the magic) and not nearly as good as previous job systems like in Final Fantasy V, I think it subtly shows that the talents that we have are a gift from God. God, not ourselves, is the source of our talents and abilities, just like Materia was the source of the characters magical abilities. Take the materia/God away, and we're left with nothing. Yes, God gives us the opportunity to hone our abilities (much like you have to build up the Materia), but we should always give thanks to him for what he has provided.

• The power of Prayer. When Aeris decided to stop Sephiroth, she didn't take any weapons. Nope, she just prayed. And while she ended up dying while praying, it was her faith and prayers that made it possible for the characters to defeat Sephiroth in the end.

Yes, there are things that you could find objectionable to our faith, such as the lifestream and cross-dressing (done for humor purposes, not erotic), but you almost always have to look past those things when playing a Japanese RPG. You aren't going to find explicit faith in most of these games. But, as the Busted Halo Show teaches me on Thursday nights, it is possible to find positive spiritual messages throughout our pop culture, including video games.

I thank you for joining me on this faith-filled look at one of the most hyped RPGs of all time. Anyone have any suggestions for another RPG to occupy the next few months of my life? I'm thinking either Final Fantasy IV or Lunar?

Gamespot respectively dives into religious discussion

2011-10-15T12:49:00.001-05:00

Just read a very thoughtful piece from Gamespot entitled "Having Faith in Your Games." What I really enjoyed about the piece is that it didn't spend too much time goofing on Christianity-based video games like Super Noah's Ark 3D, and instead spent the majority of it's time exploring how video games can explore faith.

With games becoming more sophisticated when it comes to story lines, exploring the topic of religion in a tasteful way should be easy to do. The article cites recently-released Catherine as an example of how to implement a struggle with faith, stating:

Each night Vincent confronts his burdens in the form nightmarish puzzles rife with gothic iconography, and you, the player, are prompted to bare your soul in a Catholic-style confessional booth with questions such as "Do you buy too much food when you're hungry?" "What do you think of actors in sex scenes?" and "Is popping bubble wrap fun?" Vincent's fate rests on your answers, and some of the endings are as entertaining as they are hellishly disturbing.

Catherine, a game that may just inspire me to purchase a PS3, has a theme that would be worth exploring: choosing to live your life by your own rules, or submit to a higher power (although I do caution parents to be aware of the M-rating, as the game has a lot of sexual content). That's life in a nutshell, and the temptation we as people of faith (all faiths) struggle with.

It's a reminder that we Christians can expect more from our games than "answer a bible trivia verse and get this guy to repent." (Best quote from the article is "But Christian games should be biblically accurate and family-friendly if they are to share the message of God's love." But isn't that what the Bible is for?")

Just like there can be films with powerful messages that aren't explicitly Christian (think Schindler's List or Metropolis), there should be more games with a great exploration of faith that inspires you to ponder your own moral convictions.

Catholic News Service video games article tells us things we already knew

2011-09-15T19:09:00.001-05:00

The Catholic News Agency did a story on video games, which you can read about here.

If it wasn't a Catholic news agency writing the story, I probably wouldn't waste time posting it, as the story could easily be filed under the "Does this article even have a point" category. Most of the info is stuff we already knew, and some of it makes me wince.

C'mon Catholics, we can do MUCH better than this.

The article starts strong, giving me a decent history of gaming. Things I mostly knew, but I'm not going to fault them for setting up the fact that gaming started with Pong and "evolved into a complex creative form whose impact now ranks with that of movies, TV and popular music."

(FYI, you can tell how much the author of any story DOESN'T play games by how quickly they throw Pong into the equation. Pong was great and all, but if you really wanna show your old-school knowledge, drop a Demon Attack reference on me instead).

Anyways, the article cites stats, gives way to the widespread penetration of games into homes, then segues into how violent games are. Nintendo's Wii is cited as the most family-friendly option due to the motion-based controller matching up with inoffensive content (the ultra-violent Madworld escapes mention), while mentioning that the X-Box 360 and PS3 are trying to capture the family-friendly market.

Surprisingly, the author never mentions the fact that those systems have their own motion-based controls.The two bright spots in this article is an explanation of Bioshock's exploration of morality and the limits of personal freedom, and a quote from "Grand Theft Childhood" author Cheryl K. Olson, who says, "I remember watching my son play games such as 'Legend of Zelda' when he was a young teen. He had to search, plan, and try different approaches to advance. You don't get those kinds of benefits from watching cartoons or sitcoms on TV."

That's a solid defense of gaming. Too bad it was buried at the end of the article.

My point in this post isn't to bash Catholic News Service for trying to do a gaming article. The author, a cathecist, supposedly has written about games for 20 years. The point I'm trying to make in highlighting this article's shortcomings is that when Catholics write about things like video games, it shouldn't be the same rehashed things that mainstream media has done to death.

We should be trying to find our own unique angle to bring to the story. Too often Catholic media tends to be like sheep, just following trends. We need to stand out, become unique, and lead the charge instead of just following old trends.

Hopefully CNS will put together better gaming articles in the future.

Mario Paint + Christian Music = Youtube Gold

2011-09-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

If you are my age, you probably remember Mario Paint. While it may seem outdated nowadays, given the powerful art and music programs that many people have on their computer, it was a blast when I was kid. Draw your own pictures and make your own songs on the TV? Simply amazing.

And while Mario Paint may have faded away for many people, it seems that the music portion of it is alive and well. Do a search on Youtube and you'll find people still using Mario Paint (or the PC program Mario Paint Composer, which technically is a PC program, but it's a near replica of the SNES Mario Paint) to create covers of popular songs.

Which got me thinking, how many Christian songs have been "covered" using Mario Paint? Here are a few that I found on Youtube, along with a short description and what game SNES game they'd match up with best. I'll admit, I'm tempted to copy some of them to my iPhone: the quality is just that good. And while many of these songs aren't explicitly "Catholic," they still glorify God, and that's something we can all get behind.

My favorite part of Jars of Clay's Liquid is the drums. And I think they are faithfully converted in this song.
Game match: Mega Man X.

Red is a great Catholic rock band. Kayla from Sirius XM's The Message introduced me to the band when she appeared on Lino Rulli's The Catholic Guy Show a few years ago.
Game match: Any fight scene from a Japanese RPG.

Kudos to this composer for getting the guitars to sound great in Switchfoot's Meant to Live.Game match: For some reason, I keep thinking this would sound great in Killer Instinct.

I wanted to feature something from Matt Maher, who might be the most well-known Catholic musician in Christian music circles, but all I could find was this medley. He pops up at 1:23.Game match: Background music to standard RPG towns and maps.

And what feature on Catholic music would be complete without Ave Maria? If I could, I'd sub in this song for the Opera scene in Final Fantasy VI.Actually, finding Christian music that had been redone in Mario Paint was a little difficult. I have the sheet music to Matt Maher's "Your Grace is Enough" and when my new copy of Mario Paint arrives in the mail sometime in the next few days, I know how I'm spending my free time!

Another Catholic Gamer!

2011-08-31T14:21:00.002-05:00

Thank you Ashley Collins for throwing this in my direction! Looks like a new Catholic-oriented gaming website has emerged during the past summer. Readers, head over to http://catholicgamer.com/ to see what's happenin'!

About that SCOTUS ruling...

2011-06-28T14:39:00.003-05:00

All the juicy info is over at http://gamepolitics.com/2011/06/27/esrb039s-reaction-statement-scotus-decision. I like the ESRB's take: empowering parents is the best way to go. I think that is a position that Magisterial-minded Catholics could agree with.

We've had plenty of discussions about video game violence and the like on this blog in the past. Now might be a good time to revisit them; in any case, a good Catholic approach to the issue can be found here:

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/concupiscence-is-not-a-sin

Don't let the mask of "prudence" and "protecting children" lead you into rejecting Christ.

E3 recap

2011-06-16T14:07:00.002-05:00

Readers,

Due to my lack of internet access in my current "sitz in leben," I'm completely unaware of any news from this year's e3 conference. Anyone wanna give this Catholic gamer the details?

Thanks in advance,
Andy Kirchoff

Link's Christlike example

2011-05-05T21:42:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been playing a ton of Legend of Zelda, splitting my time between Link's Awakening (on the classic brick Game Boy) and Ocarina of Time downloaded from the Virtual Console.

Playing through both of these games, the thought occurred to me: Link really is, out of all the gaming characters, the most selfless hero out there.

Video games are filled with characters who exude good virtues. Locke from Final Fantasy VI might have been a thief, but he goes out of his way to rescue Terra and Celes. Halo's Master Chief destroys a race of aliens hell-bent on destroying the universe. And Pac-Man might be the Vatican's first virtual exorcist.

But Link's adventures have mostly consisted of his going from town to town, helping people without ever complaining or thinking twice about it. Rescuing Princess Ruto from Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly. Delivering love letters (in my mind at least) from old men to old women, and fetching masks for people all while saving a planet from being destroyed by the Moon.

After he does that, a huge carnival is thrown. But is Link honored? Heck and no. He leaves town presumably to go help someone else.

In each game, you're always tasked with these great missions, and while Link receives tokens of appreciation along the way that aid him in his quest, it seems like he's never truly thanked for the hard work he's done in saving everyone's lives.

He reminds me of Christ in this aspect (yes I realize that I compared a digital character to our Lord and Saviour, and I realize that Link isn't going to save my soul from Hell, but hear me out). When Jesus healed the ten lepers, only one of them returned to thank him. And while it certainly could have happened, when Jesus turns five loaves of bread and two fishes into food for 5,000, none of those people are mentioned as thanking him before he goes off into his boat, as tired as can be.

We see Christ do so many wonderful things for people, that it seems like The Bible should be filled with more of those people thanking him.

Even today, not many people (myself included so many times) really stop and thank Christ for what he does for us, instead just going on about their merry lives.

Of course, maybe we should all be like Link. Tirelessly helping others without expecting anything in return. I think Link follows Christ's words very well in Matthew 5: "But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles."

Link definitely goes the two miles.

Any other video game characters exemplify a Christ-like attitude? Leave a comment!

Final Fantasy and Philosophy

2011-04-07T13:51:00.003-05:00

I thought I would put a little post up about quite an interesting book I read earlier in the year. It is titled "Final Fantasy and Philosophy" and is essentially a selection of essays from unknown academics at minor institutions on the philosophical issues raised by the FF series. The book is not as good as it could have been, it tries far too hard to be 'pop culture' with pointless jokes and word plays (possibly at the hand of a redactor) thrown in, this is epitomised by the opening prologue which you should probably avoid, it completely trashes the essays' academic credibility. Secondly, the 'philosophers' as a whole know absolutely nothing about Christian Philosophy and make one or two embarrassing references to the philosophy of St Thomas and some clumsy supposed problems with the Christian vision are thrown out without any explanation. I am thinking in particular of Chapter 13- Is fear of stopping justified and Chapter 8- The four light warriors saved the world. A third problem is that some of the essays are very dull- the first and last chapters which both centre around the philosophy of language are tedious and philosophically narrow with the impression that the individuals just heard a 101 on a certain linguistic philosopher and decided to apply it to an aspect of ff. A fourth problem is the inclusion of essays written solely about the film "Final Fantasy- The Spirits Within", which every genuine FF fan would rather not hear about!

Now on to the good qualities, some of the authors have a really good knowledge of deep issues playing out in some of the major FF games- and spot the existentialism, deep green philosophy and Neitzschean Nihilism running throughout. The three best essays by far are 2- Kefka, Neitzsche, Foucault, 11- Sin, Otherworldliness and the Downside to Hope, and 12- Human, all to human. Cloud's existential quest for authenticity. The last two feature an analysis of FFX which parallels my take on it reviewed on this blog some time ago. http://catholicvideogamers.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-of-ffx.html

The difference is that the philosophers (explicitly ch 12) are more or less writing from the atheistic existentialist perspective themselves. They raise some important questions though and I really enjoyed them. I enjoyed their contribution to the debate.

The chapter that sides most with our way of thinking is that which touches on what FF teaches us about morality Ch 7- Final Fantasy and the Purpose of Life The essay is poorly structured but essentially supports a teleological virtue based morality (which he claims is based on Aristotle but includes not one reference to Aristotle throughout the article!) over Kantian and Utilitarian morality.

My overarching conclusion of the book was that it could have been much better, but for the few decent chapters I felt it was worth the £7 I paid for it.

If anyone has read it, I would love to hear you thoughts as well.

Behold!

2011-03-27T16:49:00.006-05:00

It is mine, precious!!!!!

Also obtained: Street Fighter IV 3D and Super Monkey Ball 3DS. More impressions to follow!

Revisiting the Mortal Kombat kontroversy

2011-03-21T23:27:00.004-05:00

If you were a kid in the 90's, I'm sure you remember the glut of one-on-one fighting games. Street Fighter II, World Heroes, Samurai Showdown, Virtua Fighter, I could go on and on.

(By the way, my name is dustin Faber, and Andy was kind enough to let me post on this blog. Instead of a self-congratulatory post talking about the wonder that is me, I'll stick with letting you know I'm an engaged graphic designer/customer service rep who loves the Boston Celtics, classic gaming, and blogs at catholicguyshow.com, dustinfaber.com and thecatholiclovebirds.blogspot.com. Oh and Root Beer rocks).

Anyways, one fighting game stuck out, and it wasn't due to it's superior gameplay (Street Fighter was a better game). Mortal Kombat. Instead of beating people up, you literally killed the other guy, with blood splattering all over the place and the ability to rip someone's spinal cord out of it's socket.

While the gameplay's merits are up for debate, there's no doubting that this game made news. Parents and senators were up in arms, to the point that the ESRB was created due to games like this (and Night Trap as well). The ESRB made me mad: it prevented me from buying Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, even though my Mom had watched me play an entire match it in the arcades with no objections at all (To this day, it's the only parenting decision I strongly disagree with Mom on. She goes strictly by the ratings, I say there are other sources to go by as well).

But the realistic violence was too much for some people, and understandably so. If you wouldn't let your kids watch an R-Rated film, why let them recreate one on the Genesis?

But a few weeks ago, my fiance and I plugged Mortal Kombat II into the Sega Genesis, used a Game Genie code to make the fatalities automatic, and enjoyed pre-marital bonding by slicing each other up with razor-sharp fans. It made me wonder, during all of the bloodshed, if the criticism of Mortal Kombat was well-founded, or overblown.

Is this really that over-the-top violent as congressmen claimed?

Perhaps the HD graphics of today distort my views on the game, but the violence seems so cartoony and over-the-top, especially when you compare it to the upcoming MK title. It's not as if we were up in arms over life-like actors and actresses mutilating each other for our own amusement. More than once while playing MKII, I thought to myself that the game wasn't so bad.

Or is it? I really can't find any redeeming values in the game (then again, what redeeming values are in Pole Position?), other than the fact that it's really fun to trash talk your loved ones after a close battle. Perhaps the bloody carnage helped us bond in ways that Tetris Party could not do.

But I'm curious to your own thoughts. If you have younger children or nieces/nephews, would you let them play this game now, under the guise that it isn't as "graphic" as the violent games of today? Or would you consider the game just as off-limits as your standard M-rated FPS?

Final Fantasy IV

2011-03-06T11:35:00.004-06:00

I have recently started playing through FFIV again, I think I last played it as a lapsed Catholic about 5 years back and this time round I am picking up a lot more depth in the game. I'm also amazed at how many elements of the gameplay have not been taken up in more recent ffs. For example, the screen blurring out of battle if you are under certain status effects- I think this could be done really well on the rich 3d new ffs. Another would be Gilbert's auto-hiding away when he is low on life, that is great. Another is the cave where you are not allowed to have any metal weapons or armour equipped- I am so surprised that there isn't a side quest dungeon of this sort in any of the later ffs! It is a great idea!

FF4 really was revolutionary on so many levels.

And philosophically ff4 is great because characters have set roles and different stat development curves- this is a fundamentally more Catholic view of the world than a job based system or sphere grid where the player essentially has the power at his own will to recreate the fundamental attributes of each character. I think it is essentially post-modern and actually makes for quite dull gaming.

I am playing the SNES version and would be interested to hear about how people have found the DS re-make as it looks pretty good.

Is the 3DS the New PSP?

2011-01-21T20:03:00.003-06:00

Chris Kohler seems to think so. Universal praise, predictions of demise for its competitors, and a promise of "hardcore" gaming appeal - hardly typical of Nintendo, masters of mass-appeal gaming.

There is one difference in the position of the 3DS and Sony's yet-to-be-revealed new handheld (I await the day when the corporate masters deem it worthy for our eyes to feast on) is the position of Nintendo in the gaming market. Back in 2007, Sony was the dominant "home console" gaming company looking to destroy Nintendo's monopoly on the handheld gaming industry. Analysts and gaming afficianados alike predicted that Sony's PSP would force Nintendo into third-party game developer status. The reverse happened: Sony made a sizable dent into the handheld market, sure, but Nintendo sold more handheld machines than it ever had in the past. Now, Nintendo is unquestionably more dominant on both the handheld and home console fronts, with Apple's IPhone slowly emerging from it status as the "spoiler" competitor in the handheld gaming wars to a formidable gaming platform. And that's my prediction for the latest cycle of "console warz": Apple is going to take over the gaming market.

When Nintendo first unveiled it's "blue ocean" business strategy in 2006, gamers decried it as an abandonment of Nintendo's commitment to providing quality video games for a gradually expanding market. Analysts either dismissed it as a concession that Sony (and Microsoft to a lesser extent) had "beaten Nintendo at its own game" or predicted a massive drop in its stocks due to such a risky business venture. The rest is history: Nintendo usurped Sony's premiere status in a fashion no one thought possible.

But there's a funny thing about that whole "blue ocean" strategy Nintendo was bragging about circa 2007-2008. By targeting mainstream consumers as potential gamers, Nintendo may have put the nail in its own coffin. Since gaming has become so much more mainstream, it joins a list of other entertainment commodities that vie for the consumer's attention. Specialized products (think Amazon's Kindle) fall to "All-in-one" products like the IPhone and IPad. I believe the same will soon be true for gaming. The less "niche" gaming becomes, the more it will have to adjust to a market demand for multiple forms of entertainment. This is a bittersweet pill for gamers to swallow: it might mean a "decline" of hardcore games overall (not just for Nintendo, but for the industry as a whole), but it also means the days of social isolation for gamers are numbered. I believe that Apple is the company most poised to take advantage of this new "all-in-one" gamer demographic, especially given the increasing prevalence of downloadable content in all sectors of the marketplace. Nintendo is infamously negligent at utilizing the internet for its games, and as the above article shows, things don't look to be changing for the 3DS.

Thoughts?

Video Games and the Economy

2011-01-03T08:08:00.002-06:00

In love with your iPhone? Thank your local video game nerd.

And for those of us (all of us?) who are now addicted to seeing our latest text message, facebook update, e-mail, blog comment, etc., well, you have video games to thank for that, too.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203418804576040103609214400.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_Opinion

CVG Christmas Game Guide (patent pending)

2010-12-12T15:52:00.003-06:00

It's that time of year again! As much as I deplore the consumerist, materialist, fill-up-the-void-in-your-life-with-more-crap attitude that pervades Adventide here in America, this is a videogame blog, and as anyone who's got kids/young adults/teenagers/boyfriends/girlfriends undoubtedly knows, videogames are not only almost always on someone's wish list, but they can make a good "filler" gift, as well.

So, to make the secular side of the season a little more bearable, I'm going to use this post as a "catch-all" for those interested in discussing the various games available right now - want to know if a game is appropriate for your son/daughter? In a Christmas budget crunch and need to know how to get the most bang for your buck? Got recommendations for other readers on good deals? Bored out of your mind and just need to vent about the long lines and crazy soccer moms who apparently don't know the difference between Rock Band 3 and Epic Mickey? Well, here's your chance!

So there you have it: the first official authorized Catholic Video Gamers all-purpose awesomesauce on toast-fueled Advent-2-Christmas Game Guide. Post away!

Nintendo 3DS Conference

2010-09-29T10:04:00.003-05:00

As usual, NeoGAF has all the information one could ask for.

Things I like:

- Tales of the Abyss DS (it looks just as good as the ps2 original)
- virtual console for game boy games
- release date: March 11, 2011.

Things I don't like:
- $250. Sadface, groan, etc. I spend too much on games as it is.
- lack of American developer support
- lack of F-Zero 3DX

Still pretty amped, though. Thoughts?

Tales of Vesperia rocks!

2010-09-27T09:24:00.005-05:00

It's been over 2 years since I bought Tales of Vesperia. As is my habit with JRPGS, I managed to get about 10-15 hours into the game before getting slogged with work and/or bored with the game and moving on. Longtime readers may recall my ramblings on the early portion of the game here

Last week I decided to give the game another go. Let's just say I'm glad that I did.

While the game does revel in moral ambiguity and individualism at some points (ya know, the usual "Just do what you want to do! That's what's important" demagoguery), it also does a fine job of showing how "doing things your own way" can often have negative consequences. The ending, in particular, does a spectacular job of showing the follies of proportionalism - even with the archetypical "save-the-world-from-the-the-evil-lord-of-darkness" plot, there's something to be said about the theme of this narrative and unique "riff" it puts on this familiar plot paradigm.

Still, a game ain't defined by its story, as important as that is. What really makes Tales of Vesperia such a great game a (particularly for those looking for a good "entry-level" Japanese role-playing game) is its accessibility; it really doesn't try to be anything more than an anime-style role-playing game, and it knows this. It is easier to complete than most other role-playing game, and can be enjoyed by 4 players, something which distinguishes it from other games of its genre. While calling it "kid-friendly" is perhaps too generous, the innuendos are mild and the violence isn't really problematic except for the under 5 crowd, which might find it a tad too scary (not to mention too complicated). It's a tad lacking in the tutorial side of things, but Tales has always thrived on a real-time driven battle system - one can easily learn basics by "trial-and-error" experimentation at the exposition of the game, unlike turn-based systems which are brutally unforgiving of entry-level mistakes), and Vesperia is no exception.

Don't expect much of brain workout from this one, though - the thrill of combat is what this game's all about. It's a nice recreational diversion, not meant to be indulged upon en masse. It's basically the sushi bar of video games. Something a little offbeat (especially to American sensibilities), not perfectly healthy, but certainly worth trying out.

Halo Reach?

2010-09-14T11:36:00.003-05:00

Xbots like myself are naturally abuzz about Halo Reach, which launched to spectacular fanfare last night. My brother Joe is currently playing his copy (or at least, that's what Xbox LIVE would have me believe) and many others have asked me if I've bought a copy of my own. I haven't, much to the chagrin of my brothers, who are growing tired of Modern Warfare 2 and are anxious to try a new remedy to cure their itching trigger fingers.

The reviews have been stellar, to say the least. One of my friends commented on his facebook this morning that Reach "has lived up to all the hype." I want to hear from the detractors. Pipe up, before I spend more money I don't have and give into the demands of the consumer culture!

Spiritual Warfare (NES)

2010-09-04T10:01:00.006-05:00

Did anyone ever own the Christian NES game Spiritual Warfare when it first came out? It can now be played for free on the Wisdom Tree Games website. I messed around with it a little bit earlier, the game is very similar to the original Zelda. The plot is essentially that the people in a certain town have been possessed by demons and you must go around and, as it were, 'deliver them'- this is done by attacking them, and then destroying the demon as it flies out from them. Extra points are gained by answering Scriptural questions, so the game has an educative side to it but this probably restricts the audience the game can demand. For Nes the graphics are acceptable. I wonder how the game develops, does the game have much of a developing plot? I would be interested to hear.

Since the NES era there has been very little in the way of explicitly Christian gaming, isn't that odd? Was the audience more Christian?

I think Christian themed games deserve support from Catholics. As a young, unconverted, lad I wonder what I would have made of these games? When I was about 6, to my shame, I often purchased games based on the box! Spiritual Warfare's front cover would have appealed to me ;) It looks a little like Wizard and Warriors, with a tough looking character on the front. I wonder if the back would have put me off with all talk about religion. But then, surely, the company would want to make known the fact that the game was Christian to the presumably Christian parents trying to foist this game on their beloved child they nobly wished to catechise.

My dream however would be a fantasy RPG game that essentially looks at a world where the people in some way live according to an existentialist philosophy that does not explain the fragmentation and wickedness in the world. The main character discovers a secret, persecuted sect that holds a revelation that explains the fragmentation. Most modern RPGs seem to work the other way round!

Move straight over to 16 Bit Catholic to catch a review of Spiritual Warfare. I think he comes to the same conclusions as my first impressions. I wonder if anyone out there has actually completed this game though? I would love to hear if the plot develops in any way.

This made me laugh

2010-09-02T09:43:00.002-05:00

http://dustinfaber.blogspot.com/2010/08/giving-penance-to-video-game-villains.html

In other news, I have Xbox LIVE gold again, and am eager to play Rock Band 2 with any and all takers. Gamertag: Ando Commando 4.

See y'all in cyberspace!

Review of FFX

2010-08-16T07:36:00.007-05:00

Final Fantasy X was one of the most successful in the Final Fantasy series, the first for playstation 2, the first to feature voice acting, the first to do away with the much loved world map and the first of countless other things I suppose. Is it however, most importantly, the first of the FFs to support a Catholic worldview or morality? One Catholic minded review praises the fact that the opening quest of the game is that of making a pilgrimage to all the temples across the fantasy world of Spira in obedience to the received religion, is this then the game to give to your younger bro to try and inspire him to come to the next WYD or something? Let's see, let's analyse the game according to sound criteria and discover whether it is the kind of thing that will fuel a Catholic worldview and morality or whether it will mock basic morality and present false, inadequate responses to the most important questions of life. (Spoilers contained more or less throughout)

Reality of Objective Moral laws.

The first section of the game could be themed "Relativist Tidus in the religious land of Spira". Tidus essentially sees the world in the same way as your average young worldling out in Croydon on a Saturday afternoon. Spira the land to which Tidus is pulled into, at least to being with, seems to have rules, objective morality, hierarchical authority and religious rituals. Tidus, the protagonist, that is, the voice of you, responds to all this with cynicism and derision.

He joins a band of guardians protecting Lady Yuna, a summoner, on her quest to perform a pilgrimage culminating in her self- sacrifice to temporarily destroy the wicked monster "Sin".
The obvious baddy, Seymour, one of the religious authorities, from quite early on shows how the whole religious system and morality is in fact totally arbitrary as he is willing to tolerate the use of illicit weapons in the fight against Sin- there is a sickening moment when he says something like "after all, using this wicked weaponry is for the greater good and so it is fine". Tidus agrees with his thinking and even supposedly pious Yuna sees some sense in it. Surely if something is intrinsically evil, it is evil regardless of the supposed good that will come from it? Indeed, ultimately no good can come of it because you offend Almighty God, the infinite Good and reference point to all that is good. The philosophy is preached loud and clear though, apparently objectively evil acts can be performed intentionally to achieve a supposed "greater good".

Of course over time it becomes clear that the acts were not in fact evil but rather indifferent because, guess what, Tidus and Seymour are both in fact correct- things are neither good nor bad in Spira, the only certainty is death.

Interior Struggle to pursue the good.

Many of the characters, even within the team are thoroughly nihilist- they don't accept that there is a good let alone that one needs to conquer himself in order to attain it. Before the shock revelations that the whole religion is a sham and that Yuna has been wasting her whole life and that her supposed vocation is a sham she really embodies a noble conquest of self- the weaker side of her nature wants to cling to romance with Tidus but the greater side overcomes and doggedly insists that she must continue to her vocation.

Divine Providence working through free will.

Free will is taken as a given through the game. There is some sense of providence. Tidus knows the game is "his story". and that he is going to end the cycle of sin in Spira. Is Tidus free? Is Tidus a one off? Could other characters have been dreamed into existence to destroy Sin? The last section of the game seems to be one of Tidus resigned to his necessary fate rather than freely being an agent in a grand story beyond him but requiring him.

Self Sacrifice for others

The initial religious plot is quite noble. The evil monster sin can be checked for a period of time by a summoner, after having made a pilgrimage across the world, sacrificing him or herself in a one on one show down. Yuna, the summoner in the party is undertaking this quest and is quite willing to give of her life for the people. This is wonderful and I found myself egging her on. She has a clear sense of vocation, a higher calling, that her life must be given up for the sake of others. Some of the others also seem to embody self-sacrifice- Kihmari for example, who is clearly dedicated to his role as Yuna's guardian and totally willing to die to allow her to fulfil her vocation. Tidus is opposed to Yuna's sacrifice as is Rikku. Yuna ought to say "get behind me Satan!" but she allows them to continue with her! Eventually the plot spins around as Tidus realises that he is in fact some kind of character being dreamed into existence and with the death of sin the dreamer ceases to dream and he will disappear. Tidus accepts this and ceases to exist as sin dies. There is wonderful Orpheus and Eurydice moment as Yuna clasps in vain at the dissolving phantasm of Tidus!

Basic Christian Theodicy- Monotheism, Goodness of creation, understanding of eternal reward/punishment based on moral behaviour.

This is where the game suffers big time, typical Square 'eh? It seems that people have souls and when they die and have a ritual performed over them their souls go off into a spiritual world. If the ritual is not performed the individual can remain in an undead state or gradually turn into a monster. The whole problem with all this is the absolute indifference of the whole thing. Seymour the wicked baddy dies, so does Auron, apparently good, so does Ject, another baddy, so do a few other good characters and what happens to them all? They all float of neutrally into some kind of existence- What then is the whole point of anything?! There has to be a judgement! The existence of evil, if we are able to name such a thing (and the game does name evil) demands that evil must be punished. The good and evil character cannot indifferently drift off into eternity. Furthermore there seems to be continued existence but there is no God sustaining all of this! It is all very soccinianist, the "soul" isn't so much immaterial as subtle matter that seems to just float off.
There is no God to whom the souls are presented before, there is no God at all. For a while we think "Yevon" is a kind of deity who is utterly indifferent to the cries of his people but over time it becomes clear that Yevon is not the creator at all but simply a powerful human being living inside of Sin. How can any positive worldview contemplate existence without a creator? What fools!

Conclusion

FFX is in many ways technically very good. It is probably the first in a run of new "interactive movie" FFs where the game is made up of linearly progressing cut scenes with lots of optional side quests at the end. I have to admit that I do prefer the old style where you have the world map, the ability to jump a little ahead and the alternative of deviating into side quests at every step of the game. The towns have very little character which is a great pity, there seems no reason to return to them after they have been visited and the NPCs are, excepting 'Cid', all pretty dull.

I really liked the battle system, totally turn based with some really tactic-based battles. I think the difficulty level was just right, the game isn't a walk over and some random encounters can cause trouble- I like that though, sometimes it is refreshing to have an enemy successfully cast death on your whole party ;) I'm was not all that keen on the "sphere system", after a while I started wishing the game would just do all the levelling up automatically rather than giving the option of which stat to increase. It was a little tedious really.

The beauty of the graphics opens up the issue of pornography and I think at a few points the game edges close to the mark. Some characters are absolutely and ridiculously immodest even more than Tifa in her dumb cowgirl outfit in FFVII ;) At one point it is suggested that Sin is a punishment for the vanity of the people. This seems totally ridiculous though as the religious authorities seem to be doing nothing to get people covered up!

Fundamentally FFx carries a worldview that is relativistic, materialist and ultimately nihilist. The game concludes with Yuna proclaiming that the wonderful people of Spira can now build a wonderful peaceful world now that they have redeemed themselves from Sin. Religion was a farce and man has saved himself. It seemed very Rousseauian, that naturally benign man was now going to have paradise on earth now that the religion has been cast aside and the external foe defeated. The real truth about sin though is that it is not some external creature that can be eradicated from the earth in a puff of smoke, no, sin is reproduced by our own wills and to some extent its seat will remain within our hearts until our wicked nature has been made anew in Christ. May the Blessed Mother form Him inside of us through grace here and now that even before the final resurrection we may live free from sin grafted totally into Christ.

I am glad that I played FFX, hopefully writing this review has engraced the act in some way ;) I wouldn't recommend it to anything more than a mature Christian who is capable of mocking the plot for what it is. There are some poisonous ideas more poisonous that Sin's toxin that can easily infect even the aveThe gameplay is really something and there are some great music tracks. Square-Enix have got some really talented guys on their staff, it is a pity, a crying pity that ultimately their games seem to be one after the next supporting godless empty philosophies that leave their depressed teenage audience utterly uninspired.

FFXIII

2010-06-25T14:37:00.003-05:00

Alright.

I just finished the 2nd of the 3 discs of the xbox 360 edition of Final Fantasy XIII.

Apparently, scenario and script writers in Japanese Role-playing game land have run the proverbial narrative well dry, so to speak. FFXIII has the usual "let's stop the evil God/empire/ubermench conglomerate-conspiracy" plotline, complete with the usual cast of cookie-cutter character archetypes to illustrate the anti-authoritarian allegory (with one noticeable exceptions, on which I will hopefully elaborate on in a future posting). However, the end of the second disc (about 23 hours into the game, FWIW), commences with the *ahem* "totally unexpected" awful truth trope - that is, the point in a JRPG where the main characters/"band of heroes" discover that what they THOUGHT was the bad guy really isn't the pernicious villian they presumed he/she/it was, but something else. In most games, this enemy is usually revealed (upon its defeat, of course) to be servant/pawn of the REALLY bad guy, the good guy in disguise, or the unwitting interlocuter in some grandiose scheme of some other entity yet to be fully revealed within the narrative. In the case of FFXIII, however...(SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!)

...

The "final boss"/king of the animist deities that acts as the catalyst to this major plot twist IS, in fact, the "bad guy" after all - but after you "defeat him," he just laughs you off and says that you can't kill him - AT LEAST NOT YET! Apparently, the animist deities in this game want their subservient human "tools" to kill them off - but on their terms, not the humans', so they still "win" at the end of the day.

WHAT?!?!?!?!

Nietzche, eat your heart out. Ugh. Thanks be to God for the resevoir of theological and theodical coherence in Catholicism. Beats JRPG nonsense anyday :)

E3!!!

2010-06-16T11:51:00.004-05:00

Ok, so we've seen all the press conferences. Zelda. Killzone 3. Golden Sun DS. A Gears of War rip-off...blah, blah, blah. I'll be honest: nothing too interesting so far, and at this point, the only revelations we can expect are impressions from the show floor. Ah well... I'm too busy playing Pokemon right now to care! Maybe if they announce FFXIII Versus for the 360...or an new F-Zero game...

Anything noteworthy from my fellow gamers? That new Xbox 360 slim looks pretty nifty...

In Case You Missed It (Because I Sure Did!): Dragon Quest IX release date is official

2010-05-19T12:39:00.004-05:00

...as per neoGAF, portable old-school role-playing heads stateside July 11.

Interesting to note that Nintendo, not Square-Enix, is the publisher this time around. The ESRB rating is E10+ (DQ VIII on the ps2 was rated "T for Teen," as have most other mainline entries in the Dragon Quest series). Hopefully Nintendo doesn't bungle the transliterations - I'm all for family-friendly games, but this is a game series where the dialogue contributes a great deal to the overall enjoyment of the game, and I'd hate to see a diluted translation of an excellent script just to maintain more accessibility amongst the younger gaming set.

Nintendo's got a pretty impressive teaser up on their official website, FWIW:

http://dragonquest.nintendo.com./

Revising for exams

2010-05-11T07:55:00.002-05:00

I haven't been posting as I have been wrapped up in exams and revision for them. Still getting a bit of gaming in though. I'm working through the old Zelda II for the NES (unfinished business from when I was very young ;) ) and also FFX. I'm sure I'll have posts on both soon enough. I'm not sure why I had never got round to playing FFX in the past but am glad that I am now, I think I am pretty close to the end and am working out exactly where the game stands in terms of complementing or detracting from a Catholic worldview. Purely in terms of graphics/ gameplay/ sound/ battle it rates very highly- the battle system in particular, as with thought and tactics fights can be brushed aside quickly. Obviously, in terms of gameplay, things are too linear for my liking... that seems to be the way of a lot of RPGs. There has to be balance because too much freedom normally seems to devalue the story and characterisation.

Ridin' the Alan Wake Hype Train

2010-05-06T10:23:00.003-05:00

Alan Wake is a self-described "psychological thriller" (read: survival horror) game first announced over five years ago. It is finally set for release on May 18.

Despite my general proclivity towards role-playing games and my aversion to "blood n'guts" (that I managed to play through Resident Evil 5 without vomiting is, to quote Ben Franklin's aphorism, "proof that God loves me and wants me to happy") that such "survival horror" games tend to possess in spades, Alan Wake's emphasis on narrative development and puzzle-solving gameplay is certainly palpable to a role-playing gamer like me, and the "T for teen" rating would seem to indicate that the carnage will be kept to a minimum.

Many in the gaming community are already extolling Alan Wake as a "game-of-the-year" contender. There's even an online webisode series prequel to promote the game before its release in the coming weeks.

The metacritic average is in the 80th percentile, which would seem to indicate its not quite the foretaste of heaven some gamers apparently think it is. Still, if I ever manage to finish FFXIII and Pokemon Heartgold, I'm convinced Alan Wake can give me a good jolt of summer fun.

U.S. Supreme Court to hear case on Violent Video Games

2010-04-27T17:58:00.001-05:00

h/t Sr. Helena at the Hell Burns blog.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-court-videos-20100427-39,0,5997035.story

Prayers!

2010-04-23T15:29:00.002-05:00

Hey all,

Yours truly is undergoing something of a dark night right now and could use some spiritual backup.

St. John of the cross, ora pro nobis!

Console games on a Laptop screen

2010-04-18T04:37:00.005-05:00

I don't really want to have a television in my seminary room and I couldn't afford the TV licence either, so I use a little device called EasyCap (and there are tonnes of clone devices with different names) all on ebay for around £10. The device converts the three colour wires that would normally go into a scart lead into a USB head. The USB goes into your PC/Laptop and then you use a video capture program to capture the video coming out of the USB. A decent free program is VirtualDub, a better premium one is AMCap.

Anyway, all this means I can play PS2 games or XBOX 360 on my Laptop screen. There is a tiny lag time between input and display and small sound sync delay but for playing RPGs it is more than sufficient. The device is useful to record the stuff happening in the game and so my brother wants to borrow it to continue his boss walkthroughs for games beyond 5th generation consoles.

The return of 2D platformers

2010-04-17T09:53:00.003-05:00

I think it is fantastic that in the last 2 years game developers have started to create some new 2D platform games- there has been Little Big planet, the phenomenally successful New Super Mario Bros and the upcoming Sonic 4. I have never been a fan of the 3D platformers which I think either tend towards becoming adventure games, lame RPGs or simply a continued quest to get a good camera angle. So, lets hear it for neo-retro 2D platformers that get back to the jumping, running, dodging, waiting, timing, falling into lava/spikes, getting crushed, using little springs and squashing enemies that we remember and love.

Video Game Walkthroughs

2010-04-15T17:41:00.002-05:00

I'm not exactly sure what I think about walkthrough guides. I wonder if anyone growing up playing games today has had the experience of having had to put aside a game that they simply cannot conquer. When I think back to my NES games there are so many games I never completed- Zelda II, Metal Gear, Wizard and Warriors II. There weren't any walkthroughs around at the time as far as I can recall.

I think nowadays the internet is saturated with walkthrough guides for games. I wonder whether games would be more enjoyable if there was a 6 month lag time before any guides could be produced. Sure it would get on our nerves, but I think that completing a difficult game solo has its own special reward. I am pretty sure I finished FFVII without any guides the first time round and how long it took and how much more of an achievement it was at the end.

It has been one of my resolutions for a while now to complete games first without looking up anything online and it really seems to add to the enjoyment- in the long run. It is also a healthy discipline against curiosity and a kind of soft sacrifice- because we all can get very impatient when we are stuck in a game. In modern seminary language, I think the approach is good "human formation" ;)

Afterwards it can then be fun finding out the millions of side-quests you missed and bosses that could have been defeated in 10 seconds with the right tactic. One of my younger brothers has started a YouTube channel with his boss fights of old Squaresoft games, if you have completed the games already ;), you might enjoy checking out some of the sneaky ways of beating various bosses.

Stories that just get more confusing...

2010-04-14T04:51:00.007-05:00

I don't know if anyone else has been following the Final Fantasy VII 'series', my take on it is that the whole thing is getting more and more ridiculous... (at least in terms of storyline). Final Fantasy VII certaily had a wierd enough plotline but the sequals, prequals and side-stories have simply squared the number of questions and expanded plot holes even further.

The identity of Cloud, the identity of Zack, the motive/origin of Sephiroth, the pantheistic planet-worship, the lifestream, the 'resurrection' of Aeris.

Does it matter? That's a good question, and I think it does, certainly so if the games are proposing themselves to be more that just mindless entertainment. Why has it happend? What is causing apparently 'serious' games to tend towards growing into illogical, confusing and incomplete storylines as the game progresses? Chrono Cross, Xenogears even FFVIII are other good examples of this.

Are gamers taking the storylines too seriously? Should the Final Fantasy VII series make sense?

Something in me says yes, that storylines should be completed, that questions should be answered. Pope Benedict in his encyclical Spe Salvi suggests that the desire that we all have for justice in life is due to a fundamental deeply held conviction that there will one day be a final judgement. Things on earth that were unsettled will be settled. The ultimate balance of injustice against God and neighbour will be put right. Our justice will be satisfied because God will bring about true justice. If we are among the saints (which I sincerely hope) we will praise God's justice as we see the accursed sent into hell.

Perhaps in the same vein, the desire for a closure and completeness to a storyline relates to a deeply held desire that is part of human nature. A desire for life to have a meaning a desire to know its meaning. Praise God that we do- in Jesus Christ.

Chrono Trigger- The Christian Allegory?

2010-04-02T14:15:00.010-05:00

A while back I came across some comments suggesting that Chrono Trigger, the great Squaresoft RPG (originally on the SNES but now on at least two other platforms) should be read as a Christian allegory. I had fond memories of playing CT years back and decided to replay the game carefully in order to consider this claim. Interestingly, in my research I found one website dedicated to the idea of CT as a Christian allegory but also another website presenting an existentialist reading of Chrono Trigger.

After replaying the game through Its pretty clear that the game can't be read as any kind of full on allegory- it simply doesn't itself that seriously. Just looking at the naive way that the game presents time-travel should be enough to stop would be academics from pulling some grand philosophy out of it all. The Characters are happily under-developed and take on all manner of strange experience with the same detachment as the gamer.

So, if the game is 'Christian', it is on a subtler level. There are odd resemblances here and there to the Gospel or Christian virtues but it would be very silly to go around the cast of the game and identifying them as the masks of different New Testament characters- it falls to pieces very quickly. Like in The Lord of The Rings, reflections of Christ can be found in the actions of Gandalf, Frodo and Sam at different times, but as a whole no one character is Christ throughout. What makes LOTR explicitly Catholic is the way it presents reality, I'm going to look at CT under 5 criteria to see how strongly or if at all we soak up a Catholic vision of reality in CT.

Reality of Objective Moral laws.

It is clear that Lavos is bad and that Queen Zeal has become wicked because she has sold herself to him. The people of Zeal realise belatedly that their whole lives are based on using Lavos's wicked energy and that the magic has corrupted them. The judgement of Crono by the chancellor is very interesting in that we get an application of the moral law against the main character. Magus causes some problems in this area. He is clearly a wicked character from his efforts to invade peaceful Guardia and the way he treats Glenn/ Cyrus who are truely noble. The problem is that later he is able to simply becomes a member of your team and there is tacit approval in how he was essentially trying to accomplish the good end of destroying Lavos through wicked means. In a 'Christian worldview' Magus would have to remain an antagonist and be destroyed or make an act of repentence for the wicked and misguided actions he had taken.

Interior Struggle to pursue the good.

CT doesn't really give us insights into the characters' interior struggles within themselves to do what is right. This is no criticism, the game isn't trying to be profound or to present an explication of the human condition.

Divine Providence working through free will.

I think we can see the Gates as an example of Divine Providence. The game doesn't make this claim but there is enough evidence to see things this way. The gates to different time periods are not caused by Lavos randomly but they are purposeful. The characters realise this and although their speculation is that it is caused by "the entity" which is trying to preserve its existence we could see the purposeful gates as an example of providence. The providence moves interestingly with free will in that no matter what the characters do in the past the present is largely preserved and they continue to exist. Such an extraordinary maintainence of the status quo is absolutely illogical scientifically but could plausibly be preserved by a being that transcends time. In fact the existence of God transcending time is the only thing that could make the Chrono Trigger world hold together. CT doesn't take this stuff seriously at all but we can draw these thoughts from the game fairly I think.

Self Sacrifice for others

CT deals with this quite well. On a few occasions the theme tune music sets in as Crono agrees to undertake some self sacrificial mission for the good of someone else. Ultimately of course we have Crono's laying down his life in the first battle against Queen Zeal and Lavos. Perhaps it is in virtue of Crono's death that the gate opens up for the others to escape....

Marle is quite disobedient, this is her nature, it would perhaps be more ideal if she was able to overcome herself and accept her future responsibility as queen or if we got some hint that she intended to do this (Like prince Hal in Henry IV). We do see however her love of Crono in her immense efforts to restore him to life and her chaste devotion of him. Frog is a paragon of medieval virtue whose duty is to protect Queen Leene and who is fulfilled in this role, a Christian Gentleman as it were.

Basic Christian Theodicy- Monotheism, Goodness of creation, understanding of eternal reward/punishment based on moral behaviour.

We shouldn't expect pre-Christian stories to present Christian theology (Tolkien explains this well in 'on Fairy Tales'). Although CT has some trappings of being in a post revelation world (the time is written as BC/AD, there is a Cathedral in the Middle Age) it is probably fairer to asses the game as if it presented a world before the revelation of Christ. Tolkien's Middle earth is pre-revelation and that its why the general worldview and religious understanding is one of High Paganism- holding the the beliefs virtuous and good pagans would naturally tend towards from their analysis of the world.

CT generally does present a pre-Christian natural religion. We don't have any reincarnation talk, the planet is not deified and a few 'ghosts' of virtuous characters go upwards towards heaven (The hero Toma for example) suggesting their continuous and blessed existence. There is not a similar treatment of wicked characters, which is a pity. The game doesn't take itself seriously to present any understanding of where monsters come from, but ideally they would be seen as a disorder in creation- in the same way we would see a savage wolf attacking humans.
Robo undermines christian theodicy a little in that he seems to 'learn' emotions. This is obviously erroneous. He should have been presented as unable to understand human behaviour and existing soley to serve those who truely posses freedom, intellect and will. The fact that he has a 'girlfriend' is a bit silly, perhaps its sillyness is its redeeming grace. Again, the issue of Magus poses some problems in that Christian theodicy would present this wicked character as either meritting death or needing to repent. The game's acceptance of him actually doesn't flow with the story because it undermines the Frog/ Glenn/ Cyrus theme which is very positive and creates unhelpful relativism in the game.

The treatment of magic is very complicated in the game, I am not exactly sure if it is given a careful account. I don't think it took the issue that seriously. It seems on the one hand that magic originates from Lavos and this is wicked but also there is some kind of elemental magic bestowed by spekkio which is presented as good. There is something positive in the fact that the magic is bestowed from 'above' but the role of the Gurus is poorly explained in CT. In a Christian Natural Theology they would have been religious figures of some kind and were endowed with their respective gifts.

Conclusion

So whilst CT is not a Christian Allegory in that we do not see the life of Christ or Salvation History running through it, we do, in many places get true values embodied and the possibility of using some of the story's contents of acting as an intoduction to the Gospel. The treatment of Magus lets the game down a little. Chrono Cross's reading of CT messes things up quite a bit too- but CC is far far more illogical than CT but with the added problem that it does take itself seriously. When a game 'takes itself seriously' the gamer has to be much more cautious in discerning the undercurrent philosophy as it is trying to teach in a way a 'fun/ naive' game like CT is not.

Gaming after conversion.

2010-04-01T04:14:00.006-05:00

I am sure many of our readers can recognise how, at some point in their life, they made a transition from a child apprehension of the Catholic Faith to an adult one. A good number of others will have approached the Faith from a nearly total neo-pagan upbringing but in both situations the 'converts' will come to see many of the things they used to do as incompatible with the Gospel of Christ.

It is interesting as to how deeper conversion effects catholic gamers. I was certainly someone who was playing video games long before I had any grasp or acceptance of the faith and 'converted', as it were, only around the age of 17. How then should the full Catholic faith alter my appreciation of gaming? I don't think I have come to a conclusion yet. On the one hand, if I reflect on the philosophies underlining a lot of the games I really love (Console RPGs mainly) I find really questionable stuff (I'll reflect on this later) on the other hand, I know that such games can be great for relaxation and can be a common point of dialogue with many guys my age.

I think there are two legitimate approaches then towards gaming (especially of the RPG and adventure variety which are essentially interactive novels), the first is to totally reject all games that are not explicitly and wholly in conformity with the Gospel (this was the approach of Tertullian on the subject of whether Christians should read pagan fiction or attend the theatre). A 'liberal' reading of Tertullian's approach would be to also allow the legitimate video game corpus to include morally ambivalent games like Duck Hunt, Driving Sims, Sports Sims, Puzzle games and a few cheesy 'bible based games'.

The second legitimate approach towards games, so far as they are not intrinsically evil, is to see the values, philosophies and ideas that are good and noble in them so as to enrich our appreciation of what Tolkien refers to as 'the true myth', the Christian Revelation. Vatican II, in the quotes on the side of the blog takes this positive approach and hopefully in my posts I will be able to look at some of the great video games and see what we can take from them that will enrich us as followers of Christ.

Catholic Gaming Community?

2010-03-01T21:26:00.002-06:00

From the e-mail files:

"I’ve been looking around the web for any ‘Catholic Gaming’ groups, specifically on the Xbox 360, I came across one of the blogs you contribute to and decided to shoot you an email.

Do you know of any Catholic-based clans, or gaming communities? I’m interested in gaming with like-minded individuals, and if you’ve ever played Xbox Live, you know that most people tend to be vulgar, crass, disrespectful and the like. Right now I’m playing ModernWarfare 2, but I love almost all games. Let me know if you can point me in the right direction!"

Being the online gaming square that I am, I got nothin.' Readers! Knowest thou anything relevant about this topic?

Video Game Violence, Part Trio

2010-02-28T16:13:00.005-06:00

Heavy Rain, QuanticDream's heavily anticipated "interactive movie" (their words, not mine) experience developed exclusively for the Playstation 3, released to a flurry of positive reviews this past week, and the flurries of snow here in Chicago didn't stop anyone here in the Chi from picking up the game - including one of my brother seminarians.

I have yet to play or even watch the game myself; however, the buzz about the game has reached my ears, and as it has some pertinence to the oft-discussed topic of video game violence here on CathVG, I'm going to offer the readership a chance to comment on it.

Now, the lexicon of the video gamer "chattering class" is awfully pretentious (the diction employed to describe the gaming experience is strictly limited to words like "innovative," "immersive," and "deep," and there's rarely any substantive attempt to distinguish between terms). Still, describing Heavy Rain as "immersive" is probably an understatement. The game takes a sort of "choose-your-own-ending" approach to the story; every action you as a player undertake has a dramatic effect on the story's progression. Anyone remember the "Goosebumps" books from the 90's, with the funky "alternative endings?" Yeah, it's kinda like that, only there's a seemingly limitless amount of endings to the story in Heavy Rain. Why is this important? Read on, gentle reader, read on...

Heavy Rain also "immerses" the player in its utilization of the Playstation 3's motion-sensing controller. Case in point: you character is a gun-wielding, neo-noir detective. You hold the controller as if you were holding a handgun (not too disimilar to the "light gun" arcade games of yore) as your character is forced with a moral dilemma: shoot an innocent bystander in cold blood (and thus save the character's son), or choose to back off and watch someone else die the same brutal death.

THE PLAYER pulls the trigger - or at least, this is what the game compels the player to think, as the motion-sensing control scheme demands that the player simulate the actual murder sequence.

So...with an immersive setting like that of Heavy Rain, is the moral culpability of the player any different? It's awfully clear that the developers are pushing the envelope in that direction, blurring the line between the "player-as-viewer" and "player-as-agent," per se. At the very least, the postmodern, "it's all just a matter of perspective..." thematic is certainly a part of this game, and for this reason alone I will say, without hesitancy: DO NOT buy this game for your 4-year-old grandson/nephew/brother. Even then, given that this game deliberately attempts to soothe away the pangs of a guilty conscience in its portayal (simulation?) of murder, well, I'm not sure if anyone else should be playing it, either.

That being said, I await the judgment of those who have actually, you know, played the game.

DRM - Reasonable or Unreasonable? (Part 1)

2010-02-01T14:30:00.013-06:00

Gamers are not generally known for clean language. Most gamers I know, are pretty liberal with vulgarities. In the game community, though, there is a three letter acronym which has become the equivalent of a four-letter word: DRM, Digital Rights Management (anti-piracy measures, essentially). And it is not surprising that this is the case. In their rush to stop piracy, developers and publishers of software have included all manner of draconian and invasive methods of DRM with their products.

Piracy: My Own Thoughts in Relation to Catholic Teaching

There exist very diverse opinions concerning software piracy. They range from those who consider any unauthorized use of software to be unacceptable to those who see it as a badge of honor never to pay for software and everywhere in between. The in between is, perhaps, much more interesting than the extremes. It is there in which we see the various justifications people use for piracy.

Looking carefully at the matter, I would say that I consider software piracy to be a form of theft. As such, I would say that it is wrong under any normal circumstance. The various people in the chain of software production and sale deserve to be justly recompensed for their labors. This is a Christian principle as well as one which is in keeping with the general concept of individuals rights. Taking the fruit of someone's labor both without permission and without recompense is theft. I do not think that it matters if you are not taking a physical item, even though some people will try to justify piracy by saying that non-physical goods are somehow not afforded the same protection as physical ones.

While there are numerous different justifications which are used for piracy, I will list a few here:

1) Justification: The software is over-priced.
My Thought: It could easily be replaced with "I do not want to pay for it". This argument strikes me as especially weak in light of the fact that software is not a basic human right nor, generally, do you need it for your livelihood.

2) Justification: "Try before you buy". The idea is that you pirate the software and then buy it if you like it.
My Thought: This is a concept which, if you were to attempt it with most other goods, would likely not be accepted by those who are purveying them.

3) Justification: Certain publishers or, perhaps, all publishers are "rich" and/or "evil", therefore making it acceptable to pirate their products. Microsoft is a popular target for this.
My Thought: This mentality does not strike me as having particular merit any more than the over-priced reasoning. Simply because someone is wealthy does not make it right to pirate from them. Not even if it is Microsoft (and please note that I am writing this on a computer running Linux).

Along with my individual responses here and the moral perspective from a religious and individual rights point of view, I would also like to add a practical test for personal actions. It is always good to ask: "What would be the result if everyone else were to do as I do?" In this case, if everyone pirated, then it would become difficult to profit from the production of software and many high-end games and powerful applications would no longer be available to us. Further, it would be a great injustice to those who labor to create software for our use.

There is one more justification for piracy which I find, perhaps, the most interesting:

Protest.

Yes, sometimes people use software piracy as a means of protest against some policy or other which a developer or publisher undertakes. Ironically, as was the case with the game Spore, it can even be a response to draconian DRM (anti-piracy) measures. Once again, I would not endorse the idea of pirating software simply because the developer or publisher has made you angry. At the same time, a part of the reason I am looking at this issue on this blog is the very phenomena of piracy as protest.

NOTE: This article is NOT addressing issues such as "abandonware" and foreign titles not released in your native language. I will talk about that in a different article as it is rather a different circumstance.

NOTE 2: I am also not a fan of DRM, despite not supporting piracy.

God be with you,
Steely

For Freedom! - Two Great Classic Game Deals at Steam!

2010-01-30T23:00:00.012-06:00

Freedom Force: Freedom Pack

Freedom Force, the light-hearted real time tactical game based around Silver Age style super heroes, is on sale this weekend on Valve's excellent Steam service. Right now, you can get the Freedom Force: Freedom Pack, containing both the original Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich for only $2. Such a low price for two excellent classics of the PC gaming genre is a real deal.

For those who have never played any of the Freedom Force series, this would be a perfect chance to get into it. The game stars a cast of heroes and villains reminiscent of what was known as the "Silver Age" of comic books which is defined as being the era between 1956 and around 1970. As such, they are over-the-top and bombastic in the most endearing ways. Perhaps the best example is the main character, Minuteman, a patriotic themed hero who wears a tricorn hat and belts out slogans about freedom and justice. Add in abilities with names like "Strike for Freedom" and "National Defense" to create an awesome retro feel.

The gameplay itself involves controlling a small group of individual super heroes from a zoomable isometric perspective. While the action takes place in real time, the game can be paused at any time to issue orders - something which becomes essential when there is more than one character in the team. Each super hero is colorful and features their own set of powers and weaknesses. The powers and traits are upgradeable through an point system, adding an RPG element to the game. Due to the varied strengths and weaknesses, each character has their own set of tactics to work with and the chemistry of your team becomes an important planning factor in each mission.

From a Catholic perspective, I have to say that I like the light tone and heroic theme of Freedom Force. I definitely enjoy some dark games - such as Bioshock or Resident Evil 5. However, it is good for the heart to get something light sometimes. Freedom Force definitely fits the bill there.

X-Com Complete Pack

Also on sale at Steam for the ridiculously low price of $2, one of the great legendary games of the PC genre - X-Com: UFO Defense - along with a collection of four other games of that series. Serious PC gamers will likely have least heard of this title from ye olde days of DOS games. Well, if you have played it before and you want to play it again, here is your chance. And if you have never played it, then I think that you owe it to yourself to check this out.

X-Com: UFO defense (originally X-Com: Enemy Unknown) is a turn-based tactical game released in 1994. As the name implies, the game involves fighting against an alien force. Aliens are making the first moves towards invading Earth and you are placed at the head of an international military organization known as X-Com, tasked with defending against the new threat. You begin with a base, a team of soldiers, interceptor fighters, a transport, and international funding. From there, how things proceed is up to you.

The game takes place on two levels. X-Com is commanded globally from a rotating globe map. The player oversees operations such as base construction, research and development, personnel, supply and equipment, and, of course, defense. UFO's appear at regular intervals across the globe. Depending upon radar coverage, which is part of base building, the player can detect these intrusions and attempt to intercept the ships. There are also cases in which the aliens actually land and must then be dealt with. Eventually, the player will have to deal with alien terror attacks, alien bases, and attacks on X-Com bases by the aliens as well.

It should be noted that speedy and efficient defense is crucial. The world's leaders will become upset if the aliens get away with too much in their territories. If they see X-Com as ineffective, then they will decrease funding or, worse, sign a pact the enemy.

The missions themselves involve turn based tactical from an isometric view. Once a team has landed, they are controlled by the player one by one, with the amount of action each can take determined by an action point system. Each team member may be armed with a variety of weapons, including heavy weapons and grenades. In the beginning, the X-Com forces are heavily outgunned. But, with time, captured weapons allow for the use of more advanced technology.

While the graphics and sound are quite primitive by today's standards, they still serve to create the eerie atmosphere which sucked me in the first time I played. There is a certain tension created when you have first landed and look upon the landscape of the mission map, then obscured by fog of war. Somewhere, in that darkness, aliens await your brave team of commandos. Life and death will depend upon sound tactics and careful planning. Around each corner, a hostile might be encountered.

Indeed, I would venture to say that the minimalistic nature of the game with its old technology perhaps adds to the creepier aspects of the game. There's something about that pc speaker style music which has its own effect. Even if someone were to offer me a remade version of the game with better effects, I do not think I would want to replace this original version.

Additional details tying the missions to the overall strategy game elements include a robust research system. If the player captures alien equipment or even live aliens (using stun devices), then they can research them. This is crucial to success, as it can lead to better technology and more information on the nature of the enemy. Not only that, but it adds just that much more flavor and enjoyment to the experience.

X-Com has a certain heroic feel to it which I think is a good thing to experience in a game. It features bravery, honor, and duty in the struggle against the invading forces. Even though your soldiers are not fleshed out characters in any way, you can easily begin to think of them as brave defenders of the innocent in your fight against the alien menace. I always hated to see one of the soldiers die and would always do whatever I could to ensure the survival each member of the team.

Turn based tactical games are not very common these days. However, there will always be a place in the hearts of many gamers for this tense, thoughtful style of play. X-Com is a part of gaming history and its place is well-deserved.

God be with you,
Steely

U.S. Navy: Video Games are good for you

2010-01-26T22:15:00.003-06:00

H/T to the NeoGAF forums

"Think interactive video games are a waste of time or more suited for children? Think again. Research by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) indicates that video games can help adults process information much faster and improve their abilities to reason and solve problems. Dr. Ray Perez, ONR program officer, discussed video game-induced “fluid intelligence” on the Jan 20 webcast."

Other notable excerpts:

"...Early indications suggest that cognitive improvements from video games can last up to two and half years, Perez said, but he admitted that so far the results have been relegated to observations and measurements in a controlled laboratory environment..."

“The major question is that once you’ve increased these perceptual abilities and cognitive abilities, do they transfer to everyday tasks,” he said, “and how long do they continue to influence the person working on these everyday tasks?”

For the record, this is hardly the only instance of the scientific method demonstrating the health benefits of video gaming; one such benefit that goes unmentioned in this particular study (and, thus, earns a peculiar mention here) is accentuated eyesight. Personally, I think my prolonged hours of video gaming have done wonders for my hand-eye coordination, though that's probably the only physical health benefit I derived from them. The intellectual and spiritual formation these games provided, however, was invaluable. The artistic imagery of some of the games also gave me a taste of the transcendent, instilling in me (during those precious formative teenage years, no less!) the idea that beauty was, in fact, NOT in the eye of the beholder. I learned a bit about storytelling and characterization, as well; as a budding English major at a major Catholic University, it is no exaggeration to say that I owe my interest in the subject at least partially to the video games I enjoyed well into my teenage years...and still enjoy, albeit with less frequency, to this day.

That being said, the social isolation and addictive potential of these same games also contributed at times to a kind of spiritual desolation; I will be the first to admit that I failed to employ moderation during my more "hardcore" gaming years, and no amount of acquired ocular aptitude can replace wasted time (not to mention neglected friendships, a deteriorating physique, and a regrettably over-extended introversion). Too much of a good thing is, well, too much of a good thing. Games became my god, and that was...well, not healthy at all.

I sincerely hope the Navy Officers in this study don't fall into the same trap I did. There's something about video games and an incarnational spirituality that really...doesn't quite mesh. They can't replace love of neighbor, even if they do teach the value of the practice of this or any other particular virtue. They can impart wisdom and knowledge, but they can't make you practice it. They can depict, and even bring to life, Christ on the cross, in a way peculiarly unique to the medium, no less. They can never, however, replace Him.

man games - Scorched 3d

2010-01-25T16:02:00.002-06:00

Scorched 3D

Imagine, if you will, the early 90's. A group three or four of middle school boys huddled around a computer screen in someone's living room or study. The focus of their rapt attention is a terrain which looks like it was made in a few minutes in MS Paint on which were gathered a handful of tiny pixellated tanks and artillery pieces. The guy at the keyboard takes a thoughtful sip from his Coke and then lines up a shot. He carefully measures out angle and power, adjusting for wind and for the fact that, despite the game taking place outdoors, the borders of the screen were "walls" of rubber which would send even nuclear warheads bouncing around like superballs. Finally, the player punches the fire key with a singular force which has a sort of exclamatory nature to it, as if the satisfying clack of plastic key were a kind of battle cry. Everyone watches the screen intently as a tiny white dot, its arc traced by a white line behind it, is lobbed across the screen and down into a small valley in which another pixellated tank waits. The shot strikes earth and issues forth a massive explosion, not only enveloping the target but disintegrating an entire chunk of hillside.

The owner of the targetted tank waits with fist clenched, willing his tank's shield - represented by a white circle around it - to save it from impending doom. But fate has decreed otherwise. The shield falls with a shrill pc speaker whine sound blurb and the tank colorfully explodes into even tinier pixels while issuing a one-line lament of its demise.

Scorched Earth was a cherished part of my early gaming years. My friends and I loaded up the simple but incredibly enjoyable game many times to blast the computer and each other into tiny pixels using a variety of death-dealing and amusing weapons. It was a great time to be a gamer. Those days are, of course, their own moments in time. The same combination of wonder, companionship, and place are something I cannot replicate because I am no longer in middle school. But the game which brought us all together around a single keyboard is still around - a classic which has spawned many similar titles, including the incredibly enjoyable Worms series.

Version 1.5, the last release of Scorched Earth, is still easily available online as free shareware. It can be played using Dosbox. I do recommend that anyone who has never played it before give it a try because it is a real part of gaming history.

However, out of all of the various descendants of Scorched Earth, one has stood out to me both as a fan of the original and as a Linux gamer. That game is Scorched 3D.

Put simply, Scorched 3D is Scorched Earth with a 3d environment. It presents the players with a group of tanks and artillery set on an island or set of islands with the objective of lobbing heavy munitions at each other. Why? For what purpose are they engaging in this conflict? What are the ecological ramifications of disintegrating small islands? None of that matters. This is a game about tiny tanks and huge explosions. That is all we need to know.

Whenever you have an "update" of anything creative - be it a tv show, movie, video game, or what have you - I am suspicious. So very often these things just screw things up royally. Well, I am happy to say that Scorched 3D treats the original property with the tender loving care which a classically destructice game like this deserves. In fact, the designers have done their best to deliver an authentic experience of what the original Scorch (as we called it) would be if it was put into a 3d environment.

Among the things which carry over from the old classic are the basic mechanic of turn based artillery gameplay, the deformable terrain, and, very importantly, the massive arsenal. All of the great weapons are back - from the funky bomb to the sandhog. So are shields and other accessories. In short, it does not try to fix what was already a fantastic gameplay element.

Where the new game shows its improvements is, naturally, in the area of graphics. I found the environments to be impressive, varied, and enjoyable to play on. Perhaps the best part is the water, both in terms if how it looks and how it reacts to terrain being blasted away. Watching a newly created crater fill with seawater makes the game that much more fun.

Adding 3d to what was once a 2d game works extremely well in this case. The additional dimension adds a great deal of tactical thought that was not available before. Moving your vehicle was always important, for instance, but now it is even more essential. The terrain can become an asset or a liability, depending upon how you make use of it. I have played matches in which a tank nestled in a particularly tough to hit spot proved to be a real pain for everyone else. On the other hand, if you start a match in the middle of the open, expect to be a target. It's all part of the experience. And while all of this was present in the old Scorch, it is magnified and made more complex through the new iteration.

In the old days, we used to gather around a single keyboard in order to play Scorch. While that is still possible, the evolution of networking capabilities in games has opened up new possibilities of which Scorched 3D takes full advantage. It is easy to set up a game to play with friends or to join online games. If you play with friends. I recommend using some kind of audio chat - such as Ventrilo - because the best part of Scorch has always been the interaction with your buddies.

Overall, Scorched 3D captures the sense of fun which the old Scorch had to it. It continues the spirit of the original and is a great update for both those of us who played in years past and those who are new to the legacy.

Scorched 3D works in Linux, Mac, and Windows. Downloads are available on their website. You can also install the game via the Synaptic Package Manager in Debian based Linux distributions (including Ubuntu and Mint). Synaptic has a GUI available. However, if you want to use the terminal, do the following:

prompt ~ $ sudo apt-get install scorched3d

Then if you want to play the game, simply use the following command:

prompt ~ $ scorched3d

I played the game in Linux Mint and, aside from some sound issues which are probably related to the sound card on my Sony laptop, it worked quite well. When I played it on my desktop in Ubuntu, it ran with almost no issues, though again the sound could bug out at times. Since the game is 100% free, I will not complain. It is such a fine production overall.

And now for the links.

Scorched Earth Website: http://whicken.com/scorch/

Scorched3D: http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/

Greetings, Salutations, etc.

2010-01-25T14:37:00.003-06:00

Hello, all.

Andy has already kindly introduced me and provided the introduction for my new column, man games. I thought that I ought to introduce myself a little further.

I have been gaming since my early adolescence. In those enchanted days of my first forays into gaming, my opportunities were sparse but cherished. My parents did not consider video games to be a very high priority for them. That is not surprising. And so for awhile, my primary opportunity to play games was at friends' houses. I always jumped on these chances. And, in the process, made gaming at that time into a social activity for me.

Back then, I played some of the more primitive PC games, such as Oregon Trail - which I got to play at school sometimes (gasp!) - as well as Hugo's House of Horror's, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Scorched Earth. Then there was the much wished-for Nintendo Entertainment System, which my parents eventually bought for me. Even then I only had precious few games.

Oregon Trail was a classic game. And they even let us play it at school! Hoorah for education!

As time went on, adulthood brought on the ability to buy and play games as a chose. Now I run into the problem of having games that I don't even get around to playing. It is a state of affairs I would not have imagined in those young days. Now that I look back, though, there was something special about those times of trying to squeeze every last bit of fun out of those old, low-tech games. You cannot go back to where you came from sometimes. But I am happy I was there.

These days, I share my gaming hobby with my beautiful fiance and fellow geek, Linda. She is not as much a gamer as I am. But that has its own fun. I get to introduce her to games she has never had a chance to see before. So once again, I have returned to gaming's social aspects - not just in terms of multiplayer games - but in single player games enjoyed with others.

It has been and will be a fun journey.

God be with you.

Steely

"Man Games"

2010-01-25T13:27:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first ever edition of "man games." Those who are unfamiliar with Linux and Unix might be somewhat bemused by the title of this post. This is not, in fact, a column about games for men. Rather, in Linux and Unix the “man” command in the terminal brings up a text manual for the requested subject. For example, “man grep” would bring up the manual page for the grep command. So man games is, in fact, a column about games on Linux. Many of these games are also available on Windows, so if you are a Windows user then you might find some good stuff here too.

If you have never used Linux, I would encourage you to give it a try. At the basic level, Linux can be very user friendly. An excellent starting point is the Ubuntu distribution, which has wide compatibility and a helpful user base.

The truth is that I am fairly new Linux myself and through this column you will be joining me on my own journey of exploring the gaming opportunities on this robust and powerful family of operating systems. And if you are new to Linux or have never tried it, then you can rest assured that I was once in your shoes.

You can obtain a liveCD version of Ubuntu Linux to try it out without changing a thing on your current system here at the Ubuntu site:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

As a final note, I am proud to be hosted at the Catholic Video Gamers blog. God and the Catholic Church are of prime importance to my life.

Steely

posted via proxy by Andy Kirchoff

New Contributor!

2010-01-20T09:00:00.003-06:00

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooood Morning Catholic Video Gamer readers!

Today I have the privilege of introducing a new contributor: Brian "Steely" Swan. He'll have his first post up shortly. Welcome to the blog, Steely!

Facebook games?

2010-01-07T10:03:00.003-06:00

Everyone on earth is STILL playing farmville, Mafia Wars, and oodles of other video games on various social networks. The legendary game creator Sid Meier now claims he's making a Civilization game for facebook, as well!

Yet I've done everything I can to avoid "social network-based" video games. I spend too much time on both social networks and video games separately already.

That I don't spend time with this particular breed of video game, however, also means I can't attest to their quality. I CAN say, however, that they certainly LOOK like garbage - Farmville = cheap graphics, loading issues, and time-based gameplay that rewards prolonged screen exposure as opposed to skillful time management.

Why not just play one of the better iterations of Harvest Moon instead? Is there really something different about them?

What's on the Horizon for 2010?

2010-01-07T08:56:00.004-06:00

Though I've had some success in eliminating my gaming backlog this holiday season, I'd be kidding myself if I committed to doing this throughout the coming year.

So, here's a list of video games slated for a 2010 release that I'm looking forward to:

Pokemon Heartgold/Soulsilver (I'm a pokemaniac. Need I say more?)

Dragon Quest IX (portable Dragon Quest! WIll the soundtrack be as good as VIII's though?)

Final Fantasy XIII (all indications are that it is NOT like Final Fantasy XII, so I'm all in!)

Star Wars: The Old Republic (in spite of it being an MMO)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (even though I haven't really played the first one!)

Yeah, it's rpg-heavy, but I'm a sucker for the genre, and even though there really isn't much else I'm interested in, DQ and Pokemon alone (let alone together!) will be enough for me in the coming year.

Dark Void, Capcom's latest action game, is out soon, too...anyone gonna go out and buy that one?

Bitten by the poke-bug!

2010-01-02T17:34:00.004-06:00

For the second year in a row. Anyone got any remedy for it? My brothers go back to school on Monday, and we're aiming to finish New Super Mario Bros. Wii sooner rather than later.

On a side note: Anyone have some "co-op" wii game recommendations, aside from the various "LEGO" variants? I've got relatives anxious for a new multiplayer wii game for the family, but I couldn't recommend anything outside of the New Super Mario Bros...and frankly, they seemed fairly disinterested in it, anyway.

Overall Game of the Year

2009-12-29T09:03:00.008-06:00

Ok, confession time: I really don't think I've played enough video games across the course of 2009 to make my own definitive declaration regarding the very best gaming experience(s) that this past year had to offer. Thomas McDonald of GAMES magazine and the National Catholic Register (readers of this blog may recognize him from his recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review discussed here on this blog within the past 2 weeks), however, has separated the wheat from the chaff, as it were, and has what some will consider a surprising choice for "Electronic Game of the Year": Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Full text of the review, with some parts bolded for emphasis by yours truly:

"Batman: Arkham Asylum was a true last-minute upset. The idea that a licensed superhero game might not only be outstanding, but qualify as the best game of the year, just wasn’t feasible. Sure, there have been a few good superhero titles: Marvel Ultimate Alliance, The Spider-Man and Hulk series, and…actually, that’s about it. None ever transcended their license to become a great games on their own. But, as we explored Arkham Asylum more deeply, all the gameplay elements began to evolve, and the locations and story line opened up. We started making shocking comparisons—not to other superhero games, but to certified masterpieces like Bioshock (arguably the finest game of the last decade).

Yes, Arkham Asylum is that good. The combination of three disparate elements—stealth action, plain old brawling, and even a bit of detective work—takes some time to gel, but once it does, the game becomes almost impossible to put down. The upgrade system and gradual introduction of new abilities are remarkably satisfying, and 240 “Riddler puzzles” (including riddles that involve careful examination of the environment) add a tremendous depth and flexibility to the gameplay. The production is topnotch, with performances by the stellar voice cast of Batman: The Animated Series (including Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the definitive Joker) and a terrific story and script by comic book writer and TV producer Paul Dini. The film is saturated with Batman lore and fan-service, and loaded to the gills with villains from the Dark Knight’s rogues’ gallery. It is, simply (and without any undue hyperbole), the best superhero game, ever. —Thomas L. McDonald

Haven't played the game, so I can't comment, but I know Mr. McDonald isn't the first to compare this game to Bioshock, nor the only one to name it Game of the Year for 2009.

Overall it's been a pretty good year for action game fans, with Resident Evil 5, God of War, Batman, Deadly Creatures, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Bayonetta receiving accolades from both critics and fans alike. Modern Warfare 2 and Beatles Rock Band are also bound to get the GOTY nod from quite a few people, as well. I've been playing too much of 2008 (and even 2007's) games to weigh in on this subject, but I'm still curious to hear what others are thinking, if only to know what to buy from the Toys R' Us bargain bin a few months from now. Give me the scoop, readers: What's the best videogame of 2009?

DS Game of the Year?

2009-12-29T08:24:00.005-06:00

My brother picked up a fairly obscure Western DS RPG yesterday after seeing its high metacritic average (metacritic.com is a website that compiles reviews for a given video game and averages them into a composite score; for you movie buffs out there, think Rottentomatoes.com, but for video games):

IGN is calling it the "sleeper hit of the year." My brother bought it and was, for better or for worse, up until the wee hours of the morning playing it. He enthusiastically described the game mechanics in a way that was clearly meant to entice me to purchase a copy of my own - I may as yet do so, especially after reading IGN's review.

Has anyone else played this game?

More Proof that I'm Not Crazy

2009-12-28T13:02:00.003-06:00

See? Even priests think we can learn something from video games!

I'm a Survivor!

2009-12-27T21:31:00.004-06:00

Just finished RE5 with my brother this morning. Not sure if I'm up for a full-fledged review, but as a gamer fairly new to the Resident Evil franchise, I will say I was very pleased with the entire package - the game isn't perfect, but there's nothing really glaringly WRONG with the game, either. It's violent, it's gory, but not in the way the Modern Warfare 2 is; there is no moral relativism-masquerading-as-narrative "depth" here. In fact, without spoiling anything, I dare say the story's themes fit quite well into a well-formed Catholic worldview. I was genuinely surprised by the characterization, too; it's as much of an action game as a horror game, meaning there's equal parts Indiana Jones as there is...well, "Resident Evil" (the movie, of course ;P). Actually, it's better than quite a few movie storylines in the recent past...including the most recent Indiana Jones movie.

It's not a game for the youngsters, and I'm not sure if the game holds up if you go it solo. Without spoiling the more important narrative details, though, I will say this: Resident Evil is a very impressive game. It's visually and aurally outstanding; the narrative is more compelling than most movies from the past year (seriously!), and Capcom managed to synthesize the best elements of a "scare-your-pants-off" atmosphere with action-oriented gameplay (it's not so much a Halo-esque "shooter" as a Devil May Cry "action game") that thrives on cooperation between players rather than competition. It's a little on the short side, and there's nothing truly "innovative" about the actual gameplay itself beyond the cooperative aspect, but it does everything you'd expect - and some things you wouldn't expect - more than adequately. Easily the biggest and best "surprise hit" for 2009.

Readers, please feel free to comment, especially RE: the story in the combox below. I would love to talk about the narrative, characters, etc. in greater depth than this intentionally spoiler-free blog post indicates. Just be careful with spoilers!

Cooperation and Competition in Video Games

2009-12-26T10:52:00.005-06:00

First off, a belated Merry Christmas to all readers of this blog. God bless each and every one of you!

Here's what my dad and I bought my younger brothers for Christmas:

I was under the impression that this game was just a "wii-make" of the Nintendo DS game of the same name from three years ago. Turns out I was wrong, and good thing, too: it's as if the game was designed with the Kirchoff clan in mind. It's more cooperative than competitive, which seems to be a rarity for video games these days outside of the shooter genre.

My brother Tim has introduced me to another cooperative game, Resident Evil 5. My aversion to blood, gore, and the like isn't preventing me from enjoying it, either. In fact, I feel like I'm playing some Indiana Jones spin-off more often than not - except for the blood and guts, of course. It may be worth re-examining the last blog post in light of this game, as well.

All that for later, though. The important thing: cooperative multiplayer gaming is AWESOME. Period. And as much as "playing a sport" could probably do this just as well, you can't play basketball outside when there's snow on the ground.

I'll (hopefully) post more detailed impressions of both of these games later (or, alternatively, another poster will!). For now, though, less typing, and more, you know, actual game-playing. Merry Christmas, everyone!

On Video Game Violence

2009-12-14T15:11:00.004-06:00

Christmas break – a full month of it, no less – has arrived for this anxious seminarian! That means, among other things, actually attending to the duties of blogmaster for once – an obligation I’m actually quite happy to have, actually, as it will doubtlessly keep me busy amidst the tedium that haunts Christmas vacation. As I wrote on my facebook status this morning: “It’s amazing how the luxury of free time can make one feel so despondent.” Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, which means that we have to, you know, do stuff now and then. In the words of the late and Great John Paul II:

"Work is a good thing for man – a good thing for his humanity – because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes ‘more a human being’."
Without turning this post into yet another episode of “Theology Amateur Hour,” let me just say that despite my numerous blog-vanishings, infrequent postings, and general ineptitude in maintaining this blog, I’m VERY thankful for the readership I have here, diminutive and infrequent as it may be. Blogging gives me a chance to do something, however menial, for the greater glory of God, and if any solitary reader gleans something worthwhile from what happens here, well, awesome!

*AHEM* Without further ado, then…

“Video game violence” has been something of a recurring theme here on CathVG throughout the duration of its existence, but it seems to me that the past few months in particular have brought the issue into a greater focus. This is evident both from my own individual postings and comments from this blog’s readership. My “review” of Soul Calibur IV, for example, defended the game’s violence as a sort of “icon” in which we one can see the “glory” of fighting – yes, even using lethal means, if necessary – for what the Psalmist calls “the cause of truth, goodness and right.”

Commenter j35u5fr34k expressed his reservation about anyone, let alone seminarians and priests, playing violent video games:

“You and these priests need to read what the Pope teaches about violence in video games. I also struggle with whether or not I should play video games that depict violence against humans. The Pope is outspoken against games that exhault violence.”

A fair point. Sadly, his and other commentators wishing to probe this issue further received no response from me, and thus any opportunity for intellectual and spiritual edification – the “fulfillment,” or at least a part of said fulfillment, that JPII talks about in the quote above – was ignored. No longer!

For me, the portrayal of “violence” in any given media context is justified based on, well, the context; the same applies for treatment of sexuality. I despise the brutality of movies like Watchmen; I likewise cringe at the gratuitous violence in games like Grand Theft Auto. At the same time, I’ve always been very sympathetic to those who claim that Halo and the like are basically this generation’s Cops and Robbers; a harmless role-playing/imaginative exercise. Everyone knows who the good guys and the bad guys are; the moral lines are drawn, and there’s no over-the-top brutality involved in anything that occurs in either situation.
Some games, however, not only blur the line between right and wrong, but seem to glorify in making the player feel as if they ARE engaging in actual acts of brutality. For an example of this peculiar game mechanic (I know of no better euphemism for this phenomenon), see the latest review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from none other than the National Catholic Register, a Catholic periodical worth reading if there ever was one. It mentions the problem with the now-infamous “Airport level” in the game, which, as the article describes, involves the player
“…A group of men enter an airport where civilians are peacefully waiting for their flights. The image on the screen is the perspective of your character, gun in hand.Calmly, slowly, methodically, the men walk through two entire levels of the airport mowing down civilians. They scream, run and drag their wounded bodies through smears of their own blood until someone, perhaps you, puts a bullet in their heads. Scores of unarmed people are mowed down. At the very end, your character is shot in the head, left staring lifelessly at the ceiling as blood pools around him.”

The article then asks the question: “Is the cold-blooded massacre of innocent civilians really an experience on the emotional spectrum that we need not only witness, but simulate?” I would answer in the negative, as I hope ANYBODY would. The question is, what makes this game so morally objectionable in contrast to the other parts of the game? How is MW2 worse than Halo or another shooter? Is it because of the violence itself? The intensity of the depiction of the violence in question? Is it the act or object of the violence, in which the player is involved in such a powerful way?

I still need to sort out my thoughts on the matter a bit more, but my rudimentary knowledge of Catholic moral theology makes me think it’s a combination of the three. As per the catechism:

“1750 The morality of human acts depends on:
- the object chosen;
- the end in view or the intention;
- the circumstances of the action.”
See: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a4.htm

Of course, there’s a such thing as an intrinsically evil act, too. Murder, needless to say, is such an action; is the virtual murder of civilians, then, tantamount to actual murder? It would seem so…moreover, does this carry into any act of murder in games? Is having a fragfest in Halo with friends also morally wrong (and, by extension, playing games like cops and robbers), too?
One of these things is not like the other. Trying to make a player feel accomplished for brutally killing civilians is certainly morally distinguishable from shooting a bald space marine who is also trying to kill you (lethal self-defense is also defended by Catholic doctrine). Yet, irrespective of how its depicted, it seems that there’s something wrong with killing people in any circumstance, regardless of how brutally its depicted. Is it really murder if it’s “just a game”? Where is the line drawn here?

Ok, enough of my ruminations. Readers, the ball is in your court. Fire away!

Veni, Vidi, Vici...

2009-11-14T13:55:00.004-06:00

So, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has come and...well, will it EVER be gone? Based on what I've seen (haven't played it yet, though I look to eliminate that anomaly this evening at a gaming party), the multiplayer features of this game should keep trigger-finger gamers entertained for at least as long as the first Modern Warfare game did - which is to say that it's gonna be around for a long time. Its record-shattering sales would also seem to suggest that, as a franchise, Activision, the game's publisher, has something of a sales juggernaut on its hands.

IMO, the last time the gaming world had so hotly anticipated a gaming title was when Halo 2 was released. Ironically enough, I'd say the positive reception of Halo 2 from both critics and gamers mirrors the reception of MW2 thus far, as well. The criticism of MW2's single-player campaign seem vaguely reminiscient of the complaints regarding Halo 2 when it was first released, and, let's face it, the praise of the multiplayer features of both of these games needs no citation.

But is it REALLY as good as everyone claims it is? I'll be sure to proffer my own assessment after tonight, but what's everyone else feeling about this game?

After a Long Hiatus...

2009-11-02T10:04:00.005-06:00

I return to the blogging world! Praised be Jesus Christ Now and Forever!

For those wondering about the latest excuse for my extended absence, well...it's pretty much what any reader of the blog has come to expect. As inevtiably happens with the beginning of a new Academic Term at a major University, I've been inundated with homework. Additionlly, with the formational expectations and various obligations that come with seminary living, I would hope that the readership would understand just how and why blogging naturally has fallen a bit to the wayside during the past month-and-a-half. My Xbox LIVE Gold Account also expired, meaning I'm no longer available to play any Rock Band, Halo, and/or Soul Calibur until furthur notice. My apologies to those who inquired about my gamertag and/or availability for online gaming - at some point, I plan to foray back into the great unknown realms of Xbox LIVE again, and I'll let you all know when that joyous day arrives.

Rather than perennially cursing darkness, however, allow to be a bit of a lightbearer: I've been bitten by the Pokemon bug again, and I managed to get my DS connected to Loyola's lovely wifi network. Feel free to e-mail me or comment below if you want my friendcode, be it for pokemon or any other game!

Off to class! See y'all later! May the Souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. AMEN!

Imagination Station

2009-09-15T22:03:00.006-05:00

Something I frequently hear from video game detractors of all varieties is the claim that video games as a collective whole "stifle the imagination."

Here's a strawman to refute that claim: Scribblenauts, the new DS platforming/adventure title that should be available at most United States retailers as of the day of this posting.

Normally, I would offer the readership a quick soundbite about the game, but nothing I could say describes the game as well as this video:

Interesting, no?

How Much is too Much?

2009-09-06T13:48:00.004-05:00

It's Labor Day Weekend - and a Sunday - so any impetus to do homework is being shoved aside in favor of the normal weekend festivities. Having already played Rock Band quite extensively this weekend, however, the scrupulousity is setting in, and what would normally be a PERFECT afternoon for video gaming is currently being spent on writing this blog post. I'm half of a mind to go home for the afternoon, as well, even though I know that there is absolutely nothing constructive for me to do back there, either, save a quick hello to my family and the acquiescence of a new DDR mat that, despite being purchased for usage here at St. Joseph's, is currently sitting at home the dining room in an unopened box.

The thing is, I know that when I have to face the weekday workload again, I'm going to want to do ANYTHING to avoid it. I'll surf the internet instead of reading Sense and Sensibility, and I'll probably find myself battling virtual demons in Soul Calibur IV instead of making sure my own soul is primed and pumped for the spiritual battles of daily seminary living.

Grrrrr...Lord Jesus, lead this blind and deaf servant to the healing vision of your glory! AMEN!

What Video Games Do Seminarians and Priests Play?

2009-08-25T12:58:00.006-05:00

Being a seminarian myself, I'm acutely aware of the peculiar curiosity that Catholics and non-Catholics alike have regarding the "daily grind" of seminary living. While there are certainly many differences between the life of a seminarian and your average college-age young adult (more, I'd wager, than the moratorium on dating that comes with the job description), here's one similiarity that won't surprise readers of this blog: both seminarian and non-seminarian alike LOVE video games!

Here's a sampling of the video games I've played/seen people playing within the past week or so at St. Joseph College Seminary, where I live and study 9 months of the year:

Far Cry 2

Call of Duty 4

Soul Calibur IV

Mortal Combat vs. DC Universe

Rock Band 2

Tales of Vesperia

Star Ocean 4

Civilization Revolution

...and that's ONLY counting Xbox 360 games. I am one of 6 priests and/or seminarians who owns one, and living in community makes it easy for us to keep what I call a "diversified gaming portfolio" - a vast collection of video game titles of many different genres. It saves money, too; you can bet that at least of one of us is paying attention when a high-profile game is about to be released!

One of the guys here has a PS3, another has a PSP, and at least one of my brother seminarians has a Nintendo DS, as well. PC gaming, too, has something of a following here; we've got at least one Half-Life/Portal PC player in our ranks.

One thing I'm not seeing: MMO's. I can't stand the accursed genre myself; maybe the other guys steer clear of the genre to avoid the perils of online game addiction? Whatever the reason, gaming is alive and well at at least one college seminary in the country. How's that for a snapshot of seminary living?

Wii Gamers! Buy this game!

2009-08-13T21:29:00.003-05:00

It's called Mercury Meltdown Revolution, and I found it at Gamestop yesterday for $10. Knowing the stellar reviews the game has received from critics and fans alike, I bought it - without having any real idea of what the game would be like. I hadn't even seen a screenshot before!

I've played it for all of 30 minutes. It's easily worth the $10 I spent, and though I'm a little miffed that I need to unlock the multiplayer "party games," the single-player game is more than enjoyable enough in it's own right; I'd play through it with or without the promise of unlockable mini-games (doesn't the wii have enough of those already, anyway?).

Anyone out there ever play with one of these as a kid?

The game is basically like that, except the game is more like an obstacle course than a labyrinth. There's some nifty puzzles to solve, too.

Here's a comparison for the gaming initiated: it's pretty much everything Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz should have been, but wasn't. The fact that it's STILL cheaper than the aforementioned gaming disappointment of the millenia just goes to show you how that quality gaming on a budget is still possible in this day and age.

Viva Mercury Meltdown!

For Those Who Still Think that Video Games have no Spiritual Value...

2009-08-03T09:13:00.009-05:00

"One born of human flesh man,
man is now a race of some power
you, son of man,
must face the power you hold
and you must face your destiny as well...

Though your days be peaceful, the fated time draws near
I am your judgment
I sundered the tongues of your fathers
and shattered their arrogant power
so long as the Lord does not live in you, all living beings hold darkness in their hearts
if you truly wish to be yourself, then rise and fight the darkness within - the demon inside!
If you have the will to challenge your destiny, son of man, state your name!"

Ok, so it's not like this is like an ultra-deep theological exegesis or anything, but in all honesty, I've heard homilies at mass with less "spiritual value" than these two paragraphs. Reminds me of some of the psalms, actually. Perhaps my Catholic and Christian readers can chime in with their thoughts?

Anyway, here's the game from which the above monologue can be found:

Basically, the game's about a demon invasion in Tokyo. You play as a character who is given a handheld computer that is able to summon other demons to stave off the demon invasion in the city.

The occult thematic is obviously strong with this one; I find the theme and imagery somewhat disconcerting, but not being much of an expert on occult-related matters, I've had to rely on information from more learned sources than myself about just what exactly I should "watch out for" when I'm playing a game like this. I'm hoping to see more of the kind of stuff from the aforementioned excerpt as I play through it; apparently the game has multiple endings depending on what you do throughout the course of the game, so I may or may not find what I'm looking for. The game system itself, irrespective of the graphics, story, characters, music, and the like, is actually really, really fantastic; it's basically a "grid-based strategy" game (think chess) with the standard role-playing conventions one would associate with a Final Fantasy game. Either of these solitary game elements would probably make for an acceptable, though not exemplary, gaming experience, but they meshed peculiarly well in this game. Kudos to Atlus for creating a solid, if not spectacular, gameplay system.

I hope to have more to share about this game in a future post - which will most likely have to wait until the end of the week, as I'm Milwaukee bound tonight to visit some brother seminarians. St. Nicodemus, ora pro nobis!

Hate goes LIVE!

2009-07-24T10:27:00.003-05:00

Though the reception of "hate mail" is certainly not something exclusive to Christian circles, it seems to me that Christians (especially in the age of the neo-atheist/secularist/Dawkins-lover types) are more often on the receiving end of the hate than anything else. As a Catholic, I'm actually not bothered by it; in fact, it has this paradoxical effect of boosting my ego rather than having the intended effect of dragging me down. Why?

"Blessed are you when others insult and hate you and ostracize you,for my sake" (Luke 6:22)

Heck, the main problem with most of the "hate mail" I've received is that it tends to instill a wrongful sense of pride; it's all too easy to make the hate mail to excuse myself from the other daily devotions that bring me closer to God; while the reaction of the Christian is never strictly "Sweet! Hate Mail! Kingdom of God here I come!" (it's more like, "OOO! Hate mail! I must be doing something right!"), it's easy to get carried away. Being the target of hate mail may be a very minor form of martyrdom, but it's not like I've actually been murdered for the faith or anything, and letting it "go to my head," as it were, really doesn't make it a martyrdom at all.

Case in point? Well, this morning, some guy I played in 1 vs. 100 LIVE last night (I recognized his gamertag) sent me two hate messages (one written, one voiced). The reason for the message isn't clear, as he didn't actually specify has such in his message. Was it because I outscored him in the game? Possibly, though I can't recall if I actually DID outscore him. I'm of the opinion that he did it because of the description on my gamertag: "Contributor for Catholic Video Gamers blog." So what do I do in response? I write this blog post bragging about it!

Pride scrupulosity notwithstanding, it would be nice to have an experience online where there's a genuine sense of community being fostered. Clearly, hate mail ain't gonna make that happen, folks. Still, not all is lost. I tried out Blazblue online for the first time last night before my 1 Vs.100 fiasco, and my opponent, a person with the gamertag "TRU CHRISTIAN," kindly accepted my friend request posthaste. Thank you, sir! Pity others can't have your common sense and decency, regardless of whether or not they share your worldview!

Xbox Live: (Too) Great Expections?

2009-07-18T21:17:00.006-05:00

It's been less than a week since I signed up for my free one-month Xbox LIVE "gold" membership, and I'm wondering if I'm already at the point where I have, more or less, "seen all there is to see." Sure, Soul Calibur IV online is awesome, if only because I have an actual human being playing against me instead of some CPU controlled artificial intelligence (not to mention nabbing some of those completely useless but strangely desirable "Achievements"!). Still, it's hard to make friends with people you're in contact with for all of 5 minutes at most, and when half of them don't bother to talk to you (those headsets came with the XBOX for free, people! Why not USE them?), it oftentimes feels as though I may as well be playing the CPU in the single player campaign, anyway.

I DID make sure to check for available "freebies" for the few games I own that actually have free downloadable content; I nabbed the free gel set for Tales of Vesperia as well as the "Portal Song" for Rock Band 2. Heck, whiny as this post is, LIVE will probably be worth it for that song alone. My brother seminarians are quite the Portal/Half-Life enthusiasts, and considering all the fun we've had just jammin' to Livin' On a Prayer, I'm sure the lyrics to that dainty little ditty will soon become something of a seminary MEME, if they aren't already!

The other unexpected (underutilized?) benefit of XBOX Live is the fact that I can talk to any of my "friends" (would it really be fair to call it Xbox LIVE if it didn't have a certain "networking" aspect to it?) free of charge. No need to rack up a huge phone bill when you can pay $60 bucks a year to chat with your friends via headset with no strings attached!

Still, all of those little "perks" are really secondary to what I was expecting on XBOX Live: an actual community of gamers. I suppose I shouldn't have been so naive, and I certainly don't regret the $100 I paid for that wireless router, but I like to think the "gaming community" has more to offer than bragging rights and a perpetual deluge of foul language and tasteless humor. Really now, is HALO 3 some important that you need to mouth off at everyone just because you/your team lost (I'm one to talk; my brothers back at home will gladly show me to be quite the hypocrite, as I have had my share of outraged outbursts when I've lost rounds of Mario Kart and Smash Bros., among many other games)?

There's no real "common thread" binding everyone together on LIVE other than, well...that fact that they're on LIVE? Not much of "guiding light," is it (unless we're talking RROD...I know, I know, stupid, stupid joke)? There's not really ANYTHING here beyond facing the guy from L.A. who's willing to make small talk as he COMPLETELY OBLITERATES ME in Soul Calibur IV.

Am I being too hasty? Yes, but pardon me for having to perform a bit of a reality check. People without LIVE: it's not the end of the world. You can do without the achievements, and you can always go over to your friends' house to play video games, anyway. Plus, ya know, you may actually end up chit-chatting about something semi-interesting that way - you know, something that may actually bring you both closer to the One who made You?

Anyway, enough ranting for now. A surprisingly fun DS RPG has been occupying my spare time for the past two days, and with any luck I'll be able to write a blurb about it sooner rather than later. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for me!

I've Done it, but It's Doing Me In!

2009-07-13T19:46:00.009-05:00

After 3 years of owning an Xbox 360, I am finally, yes, FINALLY on Xbox LIVE! Gamertag is Ando Commando 4; don't hesitate to add me if you're a frequent reader of the blog! I'd love to meet up with the readership, especially those of you who share an interest in "Catholic" gaming. Anyone up for some Rock Band 2? I'm not bad on guitar...

Now if only I could avert my eyes from Blazblue: Calamity Trigger enough to actually play some games I'm actually good at. I'm not letting the free month of Gold membership go to waste, and truth be told, Blazblue has such a steep learning curve (note to ARC System Works: please put in a tutorial next time! Never has a fighting game needed one more than Blazblue!) that I'm nearly convinced to put it away until I finish off some of the older games (say, Culdcept Saga and Tales of Vesperia) that have been left untouched for quite awhile now. There IS a bonus DVD that includes fighting strategies for the uninitiated...perhaps I'll give that a whirl tonight. Still, with only a month of online gaming until I need to fork over the big bucks, wasting any time on single-player games seems a bit silly. It's like anything else in this world: What's the point in having it if you're not going to use it? The classic biblical parable of the men and the talents holds true for video games too. Go figure!

The flip side of the coin, of course, is ensuring that my love of video games doesn't become an addiction. Too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing, and ANYTHING, video games included, can become a barrier to our relationship with Christ if we become too attached to them. Oftentimes during this summer, I've deliberately avoided video games if I hadn't done some spiritual reading or praying yet that day...and if work was around, well, that Xbox was staying unplugged until that work was finished (too bad I can't say the same for my computer! Alas, Microsoft Word and my favorite gaming websites and blogs are separated by merely a few clicks, and the temptation is too muc to bear most of the time).

But I still believe in the mission of this blog. If for everything there is a season, and a time and a place under heaven, as scripture says, why can't there be time for video games? And why can't it be more than mere recreation (as worthy as that moral end may be)? Some have ridiculed this blog's "motto" ("Gaming for the Greater Glory of God"), but I sincerely believe in that little slogan, hokey and tepid as it may sound.

Then again, I COULD just be trying to redeem the unredeemable. I can march around all day claiming that my discernment led me to starting this blog, but as many a serious Christian will tell you (Catholic or not), it's all too easy to claim that something is "God's will" when it is really just what Andy Kirchoff's wishes God's will was. Others (both commenters on this blog and some friends of mine that I know outside of cyberspace) think that I'm trying to artificially "Catholicize" something, ham-fisting my religion into something that really has no place for it. Antonin Scalia once said that there's no particularly "Catholic" way of making judicial decisions anymore than there is a "Catholic" way of making a hamburger; as much as I disagree, I'm sure many readers probably share similar sentiments.

Still, at the end of the day, it is as the Benedictines say (hattip to the homily I heard this past weekend!): "Ut in omnibus glorificetur deus." Translation? "In all things, may God be glorified." If Popes and Bishops have no problem with using media for this end (and the Decree Inter Mirifica should be enough to demonstrate this to anyone beyond a shadow of a doubt), then I see no reason that games should be unincluded. St. Benedict, ora pro nobis!

Gone for a Few days...

2009-07-07T23:02:00.003-05:00

I'm on retreat with my brother seminarians until Friday, and with my work schedule as it stands, playing any video game, let alone blogging about them, is probably going to have to wait until Saturday morning or Sunday.

HOWEVER...

I am pleased to report that, after doing a bit of research, and listening to the input of those who kindly commented on last week's post, I mosied on over to a nearby Gamestop to pick up a Wireless Internet Adapter. Xbox LIVE is so close I can almost taste it!

If any readers would like to meet up with me online, feel free to drop a comment or e-mail me your LIVE account name, and I'll add you to my "friends list" whenever I get the chance. I'm also more than open to suggestions as to what games I should try out first; I've heard Culdcept Saga is practically an online wasteland now (was it ever really a gamer's stomping grounds, anyway?), but I find it hard to believe the online gaming scenes of "big-name" titles like Soul Calibur and Rock Band 2 ever really die out. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, though I can't promise that the advice you give will necessarily be heeded. Thank you again to all who offered sound advice to my inquiries last week! I am in no small way now Xbox LIVE bound because of you!

Culdcept Saga Player Diary

2009-06-30T17:05:00.005-05:00

For those wondering about my recent dearth of postings (though it's really nothing new for this blog; I've gone spans of months without any new updates), it's only because playing this game to any meaningful extent takes eons:

Most gaming websites describe this game as "Monopoly meets Magic: The Gathering" or something to that effect. I think this is a fairly good summation that gets the "gist" of the game, for better or for worse. For those of you who don't know what "Magic: The Gathering" is, think Yu-Gi-Oh! with a more mature, "edgy" feel to it (though many hardcore gamers would certainly take great offense to this comparison). It's basically the most well-known card game variation of "monster A VS. monster B."

So how do you play Monopoly while micromanaging a complicated ruleset for monster battling? Well, basically, instead of "buying" properties (think Monopoly), you place one of your monsters on the space to guard it. When your opponent lands on one of your "properties," instead of paying "rent," your opponent can try to kill the monster guarding the property. If they succeed, it's theirs, and needless to say, you're not getting anything from them!

Things get more complicated once magic spells, special spaces on the game board, and "symbols" start entering the mix. The game does a good job of gradually introducing these finer nuances, but it also means that I can't really write too much about the game because I haven't played enough to really have an informed opinion about it! This game demands quite a bit of attention and time to be played "correctly," and this makes writing about it all the more difficult.

Not that I'm complaining (on the contrary, the more I play this game, the more rewarding it becomes), but it would be nice to find a way to play this game in intervals of less than 2-3 uninterrupted hours. The game has a "suspend" option, but it severely cuts down the payoff of victory if you elect to utilize it; you aren't able to save replays of your game, and you won't get the extra costume prizes for your character. I'm not sure if it has any effect on the card prizes, though. The most annoying part, really, is that it's hard to really "get back into the game" once you've resumed a suspended game. I'm willing to forgive the rather sparse graphical presentation of Culdcept, but the rather convoluted menu system makes accessing vital information about the game too much of a hassle. When my last game session was from hours or even days prior, and all the plans I had concocted at the time are buried deep in the recesses of my ever-failing memory, this information is crucial. It also doesn't help that the game's index doesn't include descriptors of some of the spell effects/monster abilities that CPU opponents frequently employ, meaning that "trial and error" experimentation becomes a necessary part of learning to play this game. At the very least, the game could allow me some time to actually slow down the opponent's play speed. Sadly, no such options exist.

Still, despite the lack of functionality in the game's menus, the silly and inane excuse for a "story" (and to think that I thought it couldn't get worse than Star Ocean!), and the subpar presentation, the "core" game is entertaining enough to warrant slogging through single games of 2.5 hours or more, even against CPU opponents (the game has some multiplayer features, including online play, but obviously, I haven't had the chance to try it yet). It's also reasonably inexpensive; I bought it for $40 when it was first released, and I've seen new copies at game stores for $19.99. The challenging gameplay mechanics and the dark themes (some of the card art is a bit too explicit for the youngsters, as well) prevent me from labeling it as "kid-friendly," though I find it hard to believe that the story, with its new-age pagan mythos and sometimes sultry character art, is going to be much of a problem for anyone's spiritual well-being. The long hours spent playing the game are far more likely to exact some real negative consequences...but that's what the virtue of temperance is for. St. Basilides, St. Ambrose, and St. Benedict, pray for us!

Fellow Gamers! A Request!

2009-06-30T16:45:00.006-05:00

After purchasing Knights in the Nightmare and Dragon Quest Swords last week, I foolishly forgot to inquire about a "wireless internet adapter" or some doohickey with a similar-sounding name for the Xbox 360 that lets me use a wifi connection to access Xbox LIVE. It's hard to believe I've owned an Xbox 360 for upwards of 3 years now and I STILL haven't been able to get on LIVE! That will change once I get my grimy gaming hands on this adapter thingamajig (hopefully!) Only problem: I don't know where to start looking for a good deal on this particular item (no surprise if I don't even know what the heck this thing is called, hence why I'm also refraining from googling about it, at least for now. St. Jude and St. Anthony, pray for me!) I'll probably cross-post this request on some gaming forums I visit regularly, but as this is my blog is my primary communication with the gaming universe these days, I'd be doing myself no favors if I didn't ask the readers here for some help. So, in brief:

1) Where can I find one of these things?
2) What's it gonna cost me?

In the meantime, my brothers back home are inquiring about HD Component Cables for the Wii; I'm slightly more familiar with this item (in fact, I recall seeing some "third-party" produced cables for this peculiar purpose while shopping at Sam's Club with my dad), but the Nintendo-produced, "first-party" cables were no where to be seen. I've heard that Nintendo currently only sells them online; is this true? I'm not much for third-party gaming supplies, though I certainly won't speak for my brothers; at this point, they'd probably take a functional, third-party device of questionable longevity and quality over nothing at all.

Detailed responses to either or both requests are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

UPDATE: So I went to Gamestop today, bought $99.20 worth of games and completely forgot to ask about either the cables or the adapter. ARGH!!!

We're St. Blog's Parishioners!

2009-06-20T13:46:00.002-05:00

It's official: Catholic Video Gamers is now registered at Saint Blogs' Parish, the online Catholic blog directory! This should make it far easier for the writers and readers in the Catholic blogosphere to find us, as we'll now be listed in the St. Blog's Parish aggregator, appear in their search engine, and have an official listing in their extensive directory.

It's my hope that membership at St. Blogs' will garner some attention from faithful Catholics who, thus far, have constituted a minority of this blog's followers and readers. Catholic Video Gamers began in large part because of a perceived lack of attention for the video game entertainment medium on the part of Catholics, and the participation of St. blog's "parishioners" should remedy this; they'll be a excellent supplement to the already active voices from the gaming culture that have been reading, linking, and commenting on this blog during the past few weeks.

Glory to God in the highest! St. Vincent Kaun, pray for us and the success of this blog!

Move Over Final Fantasy XIV...

2009-06-19T17:36:00.010-05:00

Enter the real game of the show for e3 2009 - Star Wars: The Old Republic:

click here to view the incredible first trailer!

How did I miss this? Granted, there's no gameplay footage, but if an on-again, off-again Star Wars "fan" like me was willing to commit to purchasing this game on its release day, I can only imagine what the real Star Wars enthusiasts feel.

Then my brother curtly told me that this game, like FFXIV, is an MMO ("massively-multiplayer-online" game).

"You have been deceived." Indeed.

Why oh why must the most graphically impressive games be of a genre I absolutely despise? Well, ces't le vi. There are plenty of other games I'm looking forward to...like, say, the Nintendo DS role-playing game Infinite Space (which just released in Japan to a flurry of positive press and premiering at the very top of the weekly video games sales charts), or the intriguing , Let's Tap! for the Wii (a likely candidate for the next "kid-friendly games, parent-friendly prices" post, if nothing else), both of which happen to be published by Nintendo's former archcompetitor, Sega.

Unlike last summer, which proved to be quite the boon for gamers (high-profile video game releases of just about every imaginable genre graced just about every prominent piece of gaming hardware), this summer does look to be a tad on the slow side - which is probably better for an overweight gamehead like me, anyway. Gotta get some form of exercise besides Dance Dance Revolution, after all! Plus, with the Year of the Priest commencing today, one would think a seminarian would find something more Christ-like than lounging around playing video games all day.

So, to my fellow gamers - with the gaming pipeline so thin in the coming months, what do you plan on doing to beat the heat? What future releases do you have your eyes on?

St. Isidore, St. Gabriel, and St. John Vianney, pray for us!

Final Thoughts on "Dante-Gate," Forgiveness, & an Apology

2009-06-17T21:13:00.006-05:00

Quite a bit of the media circus that's pitched its tent on this blog over the past week or so has made the disparity between the Catholic doctrine of forgiveness of sins and the alleged lack of it thereof in my blog post into something of a premiere attraction. Both the combox here and some of the actual articles published by various gaming websites contained allegations that I had failed in my Christian obligation to show mercy/forgive/"turn the other cheek."

Though I did address this issue (among many others) in the combox myself, after reading Mark Shea's brilliant article on the subject today, I've come to the conclusion that I did myself and all readers a disservice when I claimed that "If EA comes out with an apology of some sort, I'll gladly extend my own olive branch." Those who accuse me of being lacking in the charity department after reading that particular comment do so with considerable merit. Whoever made the decision to perform that ludicrous stunt at EA deserves my forgiveness, even if (especially if!) they don't acknowledge their own petty wrongdoing. Rest assured, they have it. I owe everyone an apology for not doing so sooner, including EA. Mea Culpa. To the gaming journalists and combox warriors who deliberately and/or scurrilously distorted the meaning of my posting for your own ends (which, for the record, I find to be far more offensive than EA's mock-protest): this same mercy applies to you, too.

HOWEVER --- "What I have written, I have written." I offer no apologies for the tone or the content of the blog post itself, with a slight exception that perhaps my diction could have clearer (my descriptors left far too many people feeling slighted, most of whom were not the intended recipients of my comments). I think I've said enough in regards to the actual content in the comments already, so I'll let this sleeping dog lie down and die now. I hope Mark Shea's article (do take the time to read it! It's long but well worth your time!) and my subsequent apology are sufficient door-closers for the manufactured controversy centered around that particular posting once and for all. Peace and God Bless!

St. Isidore and St. Ranieri, pray for us!

Electronic Arts pulls Anti-Christian Stunt to Promote "Dante's Inferno" Video Game

2009-06-10T11:27:00.008-05:00

h/t American Papist

Ok, look Electronic Arts, as much as the hardcore gaming community is full of the risible self-parodies known as the "freethinking" - the Richard Dawkins-loving, fundamentalist atheist, "I'm-so-much-smarter-than-you-are-because-I-don't-believe-in-God" types, I doubt that even they would actually be more likely to buy a game because they *think* that their ideological foes (the equally risible Fundamentalist Creationist, anti-Catholic, evangelical "Christians") happen to hate it. Gamers of all varieties will buy this product if its, well, actually a good game. So instead of engaging in a shamelessly anti-Christian stunt to promote your poor excuse of a product, maybe you ought to work on making this game, you know, something better than a blatant God of War rip-off and make it, ya know, something worthwhile?

Just saying...

UPDATE: InsideCatholic's Margaret Cabaniss has posted her own take on the whole affair here.

What's Within Your Soul?

2009-06-08T14:47:00.023-05:00

The above is the question posed as part of the advertising campaign for Namco's Soul Calibur IV, a video game available for the Xbox 360 and Ps3 as of July of last year. It has occupied a gargantuan amount of my "gaming" time since I bought it last August, and while I don't have any way of knowing precisely how many hours I've spent playing it (unlike many other games, Soul Calibur lacks an in-game "clock" that tracks the amount of time you've been playing), I suspect I may have even clocked in more hours with this game than I have with all other games I've played for the past 9 months combined. For those interested in a fairly liberal estimation, however, consider that Star Ocean 4 alone took me a good 40+ hours to complete - and that's just one game among many I've been playing and continue to play even now. Needless to say, we're talking about some truly copious amounts of play time with just one solitary title. So why wait wait until now to provide a write-up of my take on the game?

Suffice it say, despite that I've ventured through almost everything the game has to offer - and there's a gargantuan amount of content here - writing about a fighting game is not something I've had to do before. My admission that I even happen to like this particular game, let alone this particular genre, is bound to get this Catholic gamer some "cocked-eyebrow" glances (er, comments) for fellow faithful, and for good reason. The entire point of this game, after all, is essentially to "K.O" the other guy, and while the violence in this game certainly isn't of the spill-your-guts gorefest Mortal Kombat variety, it's still gratuitous enough to merit a "T for Teen" ESRB rating - and enough to give any Catholic pause. To quote The Holy Father, "any trend to produce programs and products - including animated films and video games - which in the name of entertainment exalt violence and portray anti-social behavior or the trivialization of human sexuality, is a perversion." Even in a game like Soul Calibur, where the line between good and evil is clearly demarcated ("Soul Calibur" itself is the name of a sword that is supposed to be the manifestation of pure goodness, while "Soul Edge" is the weapon embodying pure evil; the game itself is set on the backdrop of world history and the various events throughout time that, unbeknownst to mostly everyone, are caused by the conflict between these two swords), the fact that:

a) both good and evil are represented by a weapon, a tool of destruction;
b) the game itself really does boil down to virtually knocking the stuffing outta the other guy/gal who's trying their utmost to do the same to you;

is certainly problematic irrespective of the rest of the game's virtues.

More problematic in my opinion, however, is the game's treatment of sexuality. Let's just say that "scantily clad" is a VERY MINIMALISTIC way to describe the depiction of certain female fighters in this game. It is clearly meant to attract the playboy generation, and, as I wrote in a post last year, it nearly stopped me from buying the game, if only to protest what I thought was not only in terribly poor taste, but an ostensibly offensive objectification of the human body. Now there are ways to avoid some of the naughtier bits - the game actually allows the players to purchase different armor and weapons for the characters, with each costume affecting different battle parameters. It's not difficult to customize characters so that this particularly unfortunate content shouldn't pose a problem.

So just what exactly redeems this game, anyway? Well, I didn't find the concept of "fighting" in and of itself to be particularly problematic, not being a pacifist. As creatures, we're actively engaged, whether we like it or not, in a battle between good and evil; the various characters in the game often find themselves unwilling participants in the same struggle. I found this particular premise to be particularly compelling when I first played Soul Calibur II on the Gamecube, and even now, as a 20-something seminarian, I STILL do. The fact that the game actually attempts to provide some characterization (well, what qualifies as "interesting" when it comes to video games, anyway) also adds to this game's appeal; I'm sure I'm not the only one who was compelled to play the games "story" mode just to see what exactly happens to these characters as they play their part in the battle between good and evil. Sure, the game has its fair share of cheesy, B-movie dialogue, too, but this actually is for the better, as well, as it keeps the game from becoming too verbose and pretentious.

The game itself is also really, really fun to play. Whether I was clashing virtual weapons with CPU foes or battling with my brother seminarians, I had plenty of moments of distraught frustration after harsh losses alongside the triumphant satisfaction emanating from moments of victory. Heck, there were some even some moments of shock and laughter thrown into the mix (especially with Star Wars' very own Yoda making a guest appearance as a playable character - just imagine the possibilities!). Shallow as it may sound, the game possesses a certain intensity (due in no small part to the game's high production values - this game looks and sounds like a movie more often than not!) that ensures that emotions run high for anyone watching of playing the game. This is both a boon and a bane for prospective game players; I suspect those that have a particularly competitive edge may find this game a little too much of a near occasion of sin (seriously! If you play the game you'll see what I mean!). Still, outside of the perennial favorite fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, I think that this particular fighting game rewards practice without being too complicated for people who have never picked up a game controller in their lives (unlike, say, more "niche" fighting game series like Guilty Gear). It strikes just the right balance it terms of challenging and intuitive gameplay with an atmosphere that really lends an "epic" sensation to the experience. In short, it's FUN!

While I certainly WOULD NOT recommend Soul Calibur to just anyone, I think there's enough here where a mature teen could easily play this title without much worry of spiritual danger, and a younger one could probably play along with some older siblings or parents' supervision. St. Paul admonishes his fellow Christians to "fight the good fight" in his letter to Timothy; perhaps Soul Calibur IV has a little to say about attaining the crown of righteousness? I'm really not sure if it's that much of a stretch to say so...

UPDATE: Well, turns out there *is* an in-game clock in the game's "Battle Records" submenu. Apparently I've played over 147 hours!

Game of the Show

2009-06-03T22:07:00.008-05:00

If only this game:

A) Was not an MMO;
B) Was also releasing on the Xbox 360.

Maybe it's a tad bit premature, but Final Fantasy XIV is my Game of the Show for e3 2009 thus far.

Some screens for those who don't know what I'm talking about:

As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words.

Dan Akroyd Hopes "Ghostbusters" Video Game Lays Groundwork for New Movie

2009-06-02T12:25:00.003-05:00

Interesting Article from the "Arts and Entertainment" Section of today's LA Times:

"On June 16, Atari will release the much-anticipated "Ghostbusters" title...there is intense consumer interest in this game, and it brought together the core of the original cast for voice work - two facts that have restarted the dormant "Ghostbusters" filmmachinery."

"Ivan Reitman, producer and director of the two films, said the video game essentially hit the restart button on the franchise."

I've never watched any of the Ghostbusters movies, but I understand that many a movie buff will rejoice at the announcement of a new installment in this venerated series. However, the idea that a movie-to-game adaptation is going to "revive" a franchise seems silly to me. Gamers know all too well that, with very few exceptions (such as Capcom's Aladdin game for the SNES as well as the various LOTR games that have been released simultaneously with their movie counterparts), video games based on movies are nothing more than quick cash-ins for corporations to make a few extra millions off the success of a blockbuster movie franchise.

Now, there are signs that indicate this game won't be the typically worthless corporate rip-off crap gamers are used to. It's not being released as part and parcel of a movie release, so it needs to be a product that stands out on its own merits; secondly, it's been in production for a significant amount of time (some, as the article points out, would argue it's been in production for too long!), meaning that game-breaking glitches and bugs won't be a source of consternation for gamers who are becoming increasingly impatient with technical improprieties in video games. All in all, gaming fansites and magazines have been giving it fairly positive press, though to label it as a gaming hype juggernaut is probably overstating things. I'm don't think the article is trying to say that, though...

If the Ghostbusters brand name is strong enough, however, even harsh reviews won't deter good sales - and, consequentially, the movie sequel Aykroyd wants - because despite the complaints and poor reviews from the hardcore gaming populace, movie-to-game tie-ins DO often sell gangbusters at retail, even if they are dwarfed by their bigscreen film counterparts. The question is: Can Aykroyd hope to fall back on this if the game is indeed a critical failure? Can the specter of a new Ghostbusters movie potentially propel sales of the game, as well (methinks this is the REAL purpose of the article, FWIW). Most importantly: Is this game look like it's going to be anything particularly memorable? I certainly could care less for it, but not being a Ghostbusters fan anyway, I'm not the target audience for the product in question. For those of you out there who do happen to consider yourselves Ghostbusters fans, though...anything to add?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

2009-06-01T20:35:00.004-05:00

...well, for gamers, anyway. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka e3) has finally arrived, and boy, is it BACK! Until roughly two years ago, e3 was the premiere event for game companies to reveal upcoming game lineups and even new hardware. That all changed two years ago, when various coincidental factors caused the expo to become massively downgraded. It's pretty apparent from Microsoft's Press Conference today, however, that e3 is BACK and better than ever. Christening the event "Christmas is July" (err, June) doesn't do it justice.

This is the day gamers of all stripes have their eyes glued to their computer moniters (and now, with the advent of digitally distributed game content, video game machines themselves can now broadcast this information just as well) waiting for the latest breaking news about new games (today's hot items: Metal Gear Solid for the Xbox 360 and PSP, Mass Effect 2, and a remake of the classic adventure game Curse of Monkey Island, among others) hardware revisions (did anyone get to see the new PSP GO?) and rumblings of things still yet to come (the infamously secretive Sony game developer Team ICO is present and will reportedly be showing off their latest projects some time soon!)

I never designed this blog to become a news aggregate, but e3 is THE gaming event of the year (with the possible exception of the Tokyo Game Show in the fall) and offers plenty for gameheads everywhere to talk about. So, what do you think of the show thus far? What games/hardware/speeches stand out thus far? Anything particularly memorable? Or perhaps e3 is a snoozer of a spectacle for you?

Let's hear it, folks. Fire away in the combox below!

St. Justin Martyr, pray for us!

InsideCatholic Does a Retrospective at the Adventure Genre

2009-05-30T22:49:00.004-05:00

Hear ye, hear ye, all ye fans of "old-school" adventure games! Joe Susanka at the InsideCatholic.com has an article you won't want to miss!

Since I'm part of the younger generation that never experienced that likes of games such as The Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and King's Quest, I can't really comment on his main questions at the end of the article (namely, what happened to this type of game?) beyond the usual observation of its re-emergence on the Nintendo DS. Games like the Ace Attorney series, Hotel Dusk, and Jake Hunter are all treated as "text-adventure" titles by critics and fanboys alike; can anyone who is more familiar with the older titles of the bygone era of the "adventure" game vouch for this claim?

Hello From a New Contributer

2009-05-28T19:23:00.002-05:00

Hello my fellow gamers!,

For those of you who don't know me (which I am sure is most of this readership) my name is Br. Allen Martin. I am a currently finishing up my novitiate with the Carmelite Order, professing my Simple Vows this June. I have a degree in Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago and I am a graduate of St. Joseph's College Seminary. Andy and I were at the seminary together last year (I was a Senior when he was a Freshman). I recently came across this site and became hooked. I think that this is a wonderful way of responding to Pope John Paul II's call for a "New Evangelization" and I knew instantly that this was something that I wanted to be a part of. The use of all "new media" is turing out to be a wonderful new means to spreading the Gospel to people of all walks of life.

I will be writing posts here (regularly I hope, but at the very least from time to time) looking at a variety of games from Catholic point of view, and even unlock the "secrets" of some of these popular games. And just so you know, where I say "secrets" I am not referring to the hidden weapons, turing on "God-mode", or how to get unlimited ammo. No, when I say "secrets", I am referring to the Catholic undertones which run throughout many of todays popular games.

So to close this introductory post, I want to say that I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you, and I am also looking forward to hearing your thoughts and perspectives.

May God Bless you, and Our Lady keep you!

Our Sunday Visitor Headline: "How Video Games are Good for Kids"

2009-05-14T10:18:00.009-05:00

As usual, I'm totally LTTP on this one, but this is too significant to ignore: The Catholic Newsweekly Our Sunday Visitor (a publication I would highly recommend, BTW, if only because of the spectacular writing of Russell Shaw) published an article earlier this month entitled "A Proposal: Computer Games can be Beneficial for Children." The editors pushed it the article to the front cover of the weekly edition, too, so anyone who has a subscription to the publication should have no trouble finding the article. The author, Eugene Gan, himself a professor at Franciscan University in Stuebenville, Ohio, chronicles the time he spent playing Lego Star Wars II with his son.

Some notable excerpts:

"We've all heard how sports help kids learn important life lessons, including perseverance, teamwork and all the rest. I propose -- and this may horrify some of you -- that computer games can play the same formative role."

...

"Talk about team play: It was in one such level in the computer game that I could hear myself coaching my son to persevere and not to give up so easily.

"Stick with it, son. You can do it."

But he was too quick to whine, "I can't do it," without really even trying. Aha, a life-lesson opportunity. I paused the game to talk about the importance of facing challenges, recovering from failure, and relating it to Our Lord's falls while carrying the cross on the Via Dolorosa. (That last one didn't seem as much a stretch at the time.)

The key is to look beyond the old perception of computer games as solely eye-hand-coordinated diversions for real opportunities to encourage more coordination through thinking and purposeful movement."

Feel free to read the whole thing here.

For my part, I was simply glad to read an article from the Catholic Press that didn't lambast video games as something inherently evil (which, sadly, has been the norm for the past decade or so, even though the U.S. media in general seemed all to eager to perpetuate this same viewpoint even now). This article, however, is actually the latest example of a growing trend in Catholic media outlets. No longer are video games to be ignored as worthless or, worse yet, derided as sinful mind-numbing, soul-stealing agents. The article leaves something to be desired (it leaves an open door to critics that claim the lessons learned from video games are also just as easily learned from sports, clubs, and other activities, which really just reflects an ignorance of video games as both a communications and artistic medium), I'm glad that prominent Catholic publications, both web-based and printed periodicals, are beginning to discover video games as something worthy of accolades rather than something to be dismissed with derision. Kudos to Eugene Gan and OSV for running this piece!

Star Ocean vs. Star Trek

2009-05-11T08:51:00.008-05:00

On Sunday night I saw the new Star Trek movie. It has its rough spots, particularly in the first half of the movie, but it all comes together quite nicely in the end. I left the theater feeling a little underwhelmed, but satisfied. I don't think it deserves the lavish critic praise its received (95% rating from rottentomatoes.com? are you kidding me?), but I can at least give the movie a mild recommendation.

I also managed to finish off Star Ocean this weekend, and my feelings regarding the game are actually remarkably similar. I made no secret of my disdain for the narrative portion of the game in my last post, but the second half of the game (the last two discs combined took me approximately 24 hours to complete, barely longer than the entirety of the first disc) actually incorporates some much-needed character development, plot expansion, and some much-needed puzzle elements into the mix. Rather than feeling embarrased that I was sitting through 30 minute sessions of vapid dialogue from inane, uninspired characters, I was genuinely impressed with the writing and the overall plot structure. The gameplay, too, generally improved as I gradually reached the game's climax - the characters eventually faced off with a nihilistic nemesis bent on destroying the universe in the name utilitarianism (are you paying attention, Trekkies?)! Overall, like Star Trek, I can't help but think the game has been excessively praised by too many people, but overall, I think that the gaming community has done a far better job assessing the merits and shortfalls of Star Ocean than most movie critics have done in their critique of Star Trek.

On one hand, I'm slightly surprised that my feelings regarding both Star Ocean and Star Trek are so similar; on the other hand, considering that Star Ocean Producer Yoshinori Yamagishi has said many times that the series is heavily influenced by the original Star Trek, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised that my sentiments regarding the former are so remarkably similar to my sentiments for the latter.

And so, a mild recommendation for both Star Trek and Star Ocean. Suffice it to say, both are good, but definitely not great.

Any thoughts?

Star Ocean Player Diary (Caution: story spoilers! You have been warned!)

2009-04-29T22:29:00.004-05:00

This past weekend marked the completion of approximately one-third of my escapade into tri-Ace’s Star Ocean (the game spans three disks, and I just completed the first of them this past weekend). The gorgeous graphics and intriguing dystopian plotline that fueled my initial foray into the great expanses of this game’s universe propel me no longer, and the only suitable sustenance I have to satiate my gaming appetite is garnered solely from foraging on the various hospitable planets I come across in this journey through the final frontier. Using the game’s clever item creation system, I can utilize the various items I’ve collected throughout my explorations – items that have very scant utilitarian value by themselves – to create other items that can help me in my dealings with planet natives, friend and foe alike. Unsurprisingly, the battles with hostile enemies end up absorbing quite a bit of time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either. The “fast-paced, action-based” fight sequences are enjoyable enough in their own right (when was the last time that magic spells and clashing swords were boring, anyway?), but it’s never an exercise in arbitrary button presses on a video game controller, as the system grants different rewards for different play styles. Wanna exclusively cast magic spells to wipe out enemies? A nice experience bonus awaits after battle. Would you rather blindside enemies and strike them when they aren’t expecting it? Congratulations, some extra gold is headed your way – just enough to buy that cool sword on sale at the bazaar in town!
Additionally, each playable character in the game gains “experience points” both individually and as an entire crew – the former type of experience can be “spent” to upgrade the character’s particular skills and parameters, making them more effective at fighting, foraging, etc. and the “team experience” is useful in the aforementioned item creation system. Even when exploration itself gets tedious (and it does – if my travels through the Star Ocean are any indication, the universe doesn’t hold much more than planets that are, by-and-large, replicas of medieval Europe populated by cat-eared humanoid life forms that look like they walked out of an anime convention), at least the battles and the item creation keeps me on my toes.
The gameplay systems, however, while certainly gratifying, hardly fulfill the game’s earlier promise of a deep, compelling narrative; with a game subtitled “the Last Hope,” I’d expect some treatment of this significant metaphysical theme. So far, I’ve got very little hope that the game will offer anything of the sort. The characters, like the game’s narrative, initially hold some promise, but are essentially static. Star Wars, among other movies, took a cast of characters that included aliens, cyborgs, and human beings of various ages and genders - all with different worldviews of the universe - into one of the most successful commercial franchises of all time; Star Ocean basically tries to replicate this success in a different medium, with a stronger presence of shamelessly scantily clad female characters for what seems to be no particular reason whatsoever. I suspect that even most juvenile game players would find them to be terribly uninteresting.
Nothing serves to demonstrate this point more effectively than to view one of the game’s numerous cut scenes, which generally involve one character apologizing to another for some vague reason, followed by an awkward 5-second pause, followed by some ghastly revelation of some grave secret that really isn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things anyway. Even gaming veterans familiar with the generally poor plot direction of Japanese role-playing games will, I think, be squirming at the ludicrous excuse for a plot that this game presents to its audience.
Fortunately, one’s tolerance for poor voice acting, writing, and film direction need not be one’s personal barometer for enjoying the game, as the vast majority of these cut scenes are “skip-able.” Should you elect to do so, the synopses you’ll be forced to read are far more tolerable. Still, I can’t help but decry the game’s inexcusably bad narrative presentation. It’s not enough that Star Ocean fails to make the nuclear holocaust of planet earth into a genuinely interesting story; *SPOILER ALERT* it somehow manages to make the aftermath of the entire destruction of the earth of a parallel universe into one of the most derisibly bad melodramatic movie sequences I’ve ever seen. ****END SPOILER**** Resolving some conflict on one planet just lands the crew on a new one where the same ineffectual, uninteresting, virtually non-existant relationships between the characters take center stage over the far more interesting developments taking place all around them. Rinse, recycle, repeat ad nauseam, and you’ll probably understand why I question if the Star Ocean is worth playing to completion.
Philosophers such as Plato and the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas lauded the relaxation from games as something virtuous in moderation, but if Star Ocean is merely an expensive piece of tinker toys and/or eye-candy, it’s not worth paying $60 for a new copy, harmless fun as the game itself may be. Human beings look for more than a quick fix for a longing for relaxation of the mind and/or body; we’re searching for fulfillment for the longings of the human heart! Art attempts in some way to “echo” this search; my journey through the Star Ocean has yielded scarcely even the slightest reverberation of this yearning’s fulfillment.
On the other hand, my escapades in the realm of videogame-dom (and my gallivanting exploits in the role-playing genre in particular) have also instilled in me the virtue of patience. As Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen says in Life of Christ, “…there are two [ways of viewing the world]: fast before Feast, or Feast and then hangover.” Perhaps my tedious time in tri-Ace’s Star Ocean will yield something more substantive in the near future. I certainly know better than to expect something from a videogame that only Christ can give, but it’s not unreasonable to expect something more than simple mind exercises and sensory overload from a particular form of media. If nothing else, a trek through the Star Ocean at least offers breathtaking visuals and a clever, if often redundant, battle system that makes mental micromanagement fun. The question for this discerning Catholic seminarian is this: Does it offer anything else? So far, the answer is a regrettable and definitive “no.”

Alleluia!

2009-04-18T13:06:00.004-05:00

Frequent readers of this blog have doubtlessly noticed the dearth of postings during the past month and a half that roughly coincided with the Lenten season. Hopefully they have also noticed the recent flurry of activity that has accompanied Easter's arrival, as well!

Catholic Video Gamers welcomes two additional staffers to its ranks: Arturo Felix and Charles Harmata. Both are well versed in the technological knowledge that has allowed for the Easter renovation of the CVG webpage, and their expertise in this field is supplemented with a plethora of gaming knowledge that is, needless to say, informed by a strong Catholic faith. They'll both be posting their own introductions soon enough - stay tuned for more from each of them in the near future!

In addition to the blog's new banner and general aesthetic overhaul, CVG is now proud to announce its two patron saints: St. Isidore (being patron saint of the internet, he seemed like a natural choice for a patron of a weblog) and St. Gabriel the archangel. May their intercession guide and protect all who visit this webpage to the loving embrace of the Savior. St. Isidore and St. Gabriel the archangel, pray for us!

Finally, with the school year winding down, (all four staffers here are students), the impending summer vacation should provide ample opportunities for us all to keep CVG more frequently updated. None of us are planning to "blog-vanish" anytime soon; please keep us all in your prayers as the academic year comes to a close!

St. Apollonius the apologist, pray for us!

A Supernova of Star Ocean screenshots!

2009-03-05T12:53:00.008-06:00

Those who frequent this blog know by now that I have a nasty habit of making promises I can't keep, so I'm not going to promise any new "player diary" postings on Star Ocean for the immediate future.

Seeing as I did, however, highlight the game's graphical granduer along with its rather seemingly dystopian storyline, I'd welcome anyone interested in the veracity of those claims to view the game's promotional trailer and screenshots (as seen here) both of which, I think, validate my claims from yesterday's postings.

Heck, even the game's boxart is beautiful!

St. John of the Cross, pray for us!

A False Hope?

2009-03-04T08:28:00.004-06:00

My dad bought me a copy of Star Ocean: The Last Hope as an early birthday present for me yesterday. I played it for about 2 hours so far; the graphics are great, the music fits the whole Space Odyssey thematic, but the one thing that's struck me so far is the game's story: man destroys the planet earth in a cataclysmic WWIII, then builds a huge space station in the hopes of colonizing other planets...reminds me of the Tower of Babel story from Genesis (which I just happen to be studying in my Old Testament class at Loyola!) Man constantly tries to make himself into a God, and constantly fails (and the story of Star Ocean thus far is demonstrating that all too candidly!)

I hope to have more on this game in the coming days (no pun intended!). St. Kasimir, pray for us!

Player Diary: Persona 3

2008-12-23T20:44:00.002-06:00

I bought this game off of Amazon as an early Christmas present to myself at the beginning of this month. I'm usually not one for purchasing much of anything online, but as any gaming buddy of mine will tell you, my normally fiscally conservative spending habits tend to buckle when my eyes spot a critically acclaimed Japanese role-playing game. When it's only $19.95 plus shipping and handling and comes with a free soundtrack and art book, well, even my rather obstinate and unreasonable case of online shopper's stigma is eradicated almost instantaneously.

I finally popped the game disk into my ps2 this morning, and I played for a good, oh, hour and 30 minutes or so. It was enough to get the general gist of the game's storyline premise, but that's about it. There's alot of in-game cut-scenes thus far, and not very much of anything else. Frankly, given how long I played, I'm surprised I remained as engaged as I did - usually, the first hour or so of role-playing games tend to be dominated by tutorials, and I 've grown to expect this over the course of many years as a gamer. I know when I can "zone out" without missing anything crucial. There really hasn't been any point so far where I've really "disengaged" in this way, and given how the game has done very little to engage me in terms of actual gameplay so far, I'm downright impressed.

Basically, you play as a high school transfer student who discovers that his dormmates are part of a secret school club dedicated to defeating people-eating monsters called "shadows." These shadows only appear during the "dark hour," beginning and ending at 12:00 midnight - the "hidden" time between one day and the next. How do you fight these shadows? Well, you take an "evoker" - a pistol - and shoot yourself in the head (!!!!) to summon a "persona" - a physical manifestation of the psyche that takes the form of some mythological god/goddess. When it's not "the dark hour," you attend school as a student, and the academic performance in classes and relationships your character develops with your friends effect your persona(s) ability to battle. When that "dark hour" comes again, it's time to take the fight to the shadow's nest - Tartarus, a gigantic skyscraper that just happens to render itself directly atop the school building where you attend classes during the day. The school, then, plays an crucial role in the game, an irony that is not lost on this college student currently enjoying respite from the drudgery of grueling schoolwork.

In summary, my Persona 3 experience thus far: its very Japanese, an interesting combination of two video game genres, very Japanese, and most assuredly deserving of it's "M for Mature" ESRB rating. And very Japanese.

Obviously I can expect suicide to be a prominent thematic in the game's story. Whether or not it retains the morally problematic depiction shown thus far (suicide as a way to unleash "inner power" is so unabashadly Nietzchean) remains to be seen. I'm a firm believer in not finishing games if they are not worth my time, and if the game communicates nothing but a morally evil message, well, it's certainly not worth my time. But whether or not that's the case with Persona 3 remains to be seen.

Gaming Marathons...for Charity!

2008-12-20T16:09:00.004-06:00

"Speed gaming" refers to repeated attempts to complete a game in the shortest amount of time possible. It ain't exactly my cup of tea; I have enough trouble finishing games without racing against the clock. The guys and gals over at www.thespeedgamers.com, however, are clearly of another disposition, and they've found an interesting way to make their hobby more fruitful: they organize "gaming marathons" to benefit various charities. At the time of this writing, they're trying to catch all 491 Pokemon (hard to believe it's that many now!) in the Pokemon games for the Nintendo DS within 72 hours, with proceeds going for Autism care and research. Speaking as a Pokemaniac myself, I can say with certainty this is not an easy task. Here's hoping they make it...

Christmas Break!

2008-12-16T08:38:00.004-06:00

As of Friday I have been granted a temporary reprieve from the academic burdens of my vocational discernment. This gives me an opportunity to focus on my emotional, physical, and spiritual obligations, especially those that I've neglected over the second half of the semester, this blog included.

Despite the new game releases that accompany each Christmas season, I haven't interest in any of them save Chrono Trigger DS, which I'll hopefully get as a Christmas gift. Soul Calibur IV has proven to be surprisingly popular with my brother seminarians, and while I can't say that the game possesses any particularly endearing value beyond sheer entertainment of the absurd (who wouldn't want to see Yoda fighting an Elvis look-alike with nunchaku?), that alone has been a welcome respite from the strenuous workload that too often characterizes college life.

Since I've been back home, I've rediscovered that I have the Pokemon gene - embarassed as I am to admit it, I can totally understand why the game has been so successful and popular. Organizing a team of virtual critters to fight and trade with friends makes for an undeniably fun game. This game and Pope Benedict XVI's Spirit of the Liturgy will ensure that my living room sofa is occupied for long stretches of time for this 3 and a half weeks of Christmas vacation. The book is certainly a bit on the "heavy" side - I find myself re-reading passages just to glean everything I can from the text - but my gaming hobby and Spirit of the Liturgy are proving to be far more complementary than I would have ever thought they would or could be. Being a video gamer, the "play" theory of liturgy (though Pope Benedict does ultimately deem it as "insufficient") resonates deeply with me. The idea of play being an excape from the confines of the world is an idea that many video games take and "run with," so to speak, but in the end, it ultimately becomes just another part of the world we live in, as the rules and confines established by the game transform the game from being "another world - a counter-world or a non-world - to being a bit of our world with its own laws." Games provide a fleeting escape from reality at best; they can't transport us to our higher calling, even if they can indirectly help us on our way there. It's a good reminder for video game enthusiasts (including yours truly) not to let these games become idols - they aren't the Savior whom we await during the Advent season, and we certainly can't offer ourselves to them expecting any sort of true fulfillment.

That's not to say that games don't provide something of value - Aquinas, for one, echoed Aristotle's thoughts that the relaxation from games provided a good - but in the age where many (myself included) spend inexorbinant amounts of time with video games, Pope Benedict's reminder is one worth noting.

C.S. Lewis: The Video Game

2008-11-18T20:46:00.004-06:00

What a cool idea!

Like many, I only wish that is was real. I hate MMORPGs, (including the tacky, Lord of the Rings-inspired ones nearly devoid of what made Tolkien's signature works so great: Catholicism!) but anything in the vein of C.S. Lewis can't be that bad....right?

(h/t Mark Shea of Catholic and Enjoying It!

Audiosurfin' USA

2008-10-18T20:21:00.002-05:00

Anybody familiar with the gaming community/network Steam has doubtlessly heard (if not already a proud owner) of Audiosurf, a rhythm/"music" game with an interesting twist.

The megapopular mainstays Guitar Hero and Rock Band rely on a system of colored "bars" that more or less function as musical "notes" on a scoresheet. (Those unfamiliar with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc. are probably already lost at this point: take a gander at the Guitar Hero video review here for a glimpse at what I mean). In Audiosurf,, these on-screen colored cues aren't notes on a scoresheet; they're cars on a highway, and rather than tasking the player with matching these colored bars to buttons a joypad or controller to "play" a song, Audiosurf needs no newfangled, awkward insrument-shaped controllers: you need merely the arrows on a keyboard or a computer mouse to navigate your vehicle as you traverse the musical highway...crashing into as many cars as you can along the way.

Well, sort of, anyway. Think of this game as "musical Tetris": the color-coded "cars" on the highway don't cause your vehicle to crash immediately; they are stored in one of three columns (each column corresponding to a lane on the highway), and by placing three cars of the same color in either a row or column, the player not only scores points, but like in most "falling block" puzzle games, the blocks (or cars, in this case) disappear and the columns are emptied. Likewise, if the columns are filled, the car crashes and the player loses points.

Keep in mind that the "cars" that appear on the "highway" correspond to musical notes of a song; the game also marks changes in the rhythm of a song with sudden sharp turns and uphill climbs. The best part? Audiosurf doesn't use a pre-set song list like most games of its type; any music file on yor PC harddrive, music CD, mp3 file, etc. can be used! Scores are tracked online, as well, if you wish, and it was quite a shock to see that I had racked up a 15,000 point score on the Salve Regina highway only to find out that someone had outscored me! Apparently I'm the only one who's been travelin' down Fr. Groschel's The God of Mercy and You freeway, though. No surprises there...

With a $10 price tag, I can't recommend this game enough. I'll never understand how I missed Audiosurf when it released earlier this year, but I'm sure I'll be playing it for many years to come.

An Echochrome Player Diary in Pictures

2008-09-23T18:40:00.008-05:00

+

=

With most puzzle video games taking the tetris rip-off route, It's refreshing to see something of the "sit-down-and-think" variety appear on any gaming platform.

Proof That God Loves Us and Wants Us to Be Happy

2008-09-18T19:47:00.006-05:00

Looks Like I'm Not the Only Catholic Who Enjoys Video Games...

2008-09-18T19:47:00.004-05:00

Brian Saint-Paul has written a quaint little piece over at Inside Catholic today regarding the new Pew research study which aparently found that 97 percent of American kids play video games. Being a gamer himself, Brian Saint-Paul does not use this study as an excuse to lambast the video game medium and the people who enjoy and utilize it, but actually thinks the findings of the study could be a good thing.

I guess I'm just glad that Catholics are on the forefront of the video game defense force these days. Video game "legislation" is a popular pandering point for politicians of many persuasions - everyone from Hillary Clinton to Sam Brownback seems to think it's a good idea. In Britian, it's not at all uncommon to see the Daily Mail publish asinine articles attacking the video game medium for causing virtually every societal ailment. The Fox News Mass Effect fiasco demonstrates that American news networks are equally nefarious in their treatment of the medium.

Kudos to InsideCatholic. It's nice to see that SOMEBODY gets it...

Player Diary: Tales of Vesperia

2008-09-13T19:36:00.002-05:00

Since I am absolutely indisposed to reading Chuang Tzu right now, here's a few more tidbits about the game I managed to play for about 2 1/2 hours today:

-The game introduced the concept of an "over-limit", a special battle command that basically lets your character whale on enemies without reservation. No need to worry about combining attacks and special attacks (or "artes") together (though you still need to worry about conserving health, etc - no invincibility!); you can pretty much just mash the buttons on your controller and watch as the on-screen monsters perish. Unfortunately, enemies can use it too, and since the introduction to this new gameplay feature, the game's difficulty seems to have spiked dramatically. Some nasty Cerberus-like Cloverfield wannabe boss beastie completely annihilated me, and after grinding/"leveling up" enough to wipe him out and traveling to the nearest town, some red-eyed ninjas accsot me before I can save the game. Ugh.

- The story is quite openly discussing consequentialism. In two consecutive scenes, two different characters are faced with situations in which they are tempted to break laws for the sake of preceived righteousness. One character does so and another declines. Sequential scenes show the characters discussing which one did the right thing. Neither characer comes out particularly better off than the other.

I wrote about this in my last entry, but I will mention it again for emphasis: There is a pervading theme of "Just-do-what-YOU-wanna-do-when-faced-with- tough-decisions" in this game's narrative . I'm not sure if "hedonism" is the right word what the game is advocating here, but it's definetley the same "believe in yourself!" self-help rhetoric that seems to pervade Western culture these days. Come to think of it, it's pretty common in anime, too...given the throughly Japanese origin of this game, I guess I can't be too surprised with this thematic.

-Lack of puzzles I realize Tales of games are genearlly light on puzzles, but the near-total lack of them thus far is ridiculous. The game seems too easy without the occasional logic puzzle, even if they are of the thoroughly rudimentary variety.

- I don't understand the "cooking" system. I know what it's used for, and it's sure handy in a pinch, but I'm not sure how the cooking "menu" is supposed to work. Perhaps a reader could add a dash of knowledge (apologies for the VERY bad cooking joke)?

- Total Playing time so far: 7:57 (it's actually more since I had to restart after losing to a "boss" and the game just loads from the last save point. I've probably played around 8:15 or so.)

Storytelling in JRPGs

2008-09-11T21:55:00.004-05:00

While I'm not nearly far enough into Tales of Vesperia to offer much of a response to my brother's recent critique on the dungeons, I can say that so far the game's thematic is making me a little uncomfortable. It's pretty much the usual self-help on steroids refrain of "do what you feel is right, don't let anyone stop you/believe in yourself" shlock. It seems overly self-righteous and preachy, evn darnright narcissistic. Bleh.

The battles, though...awesome, as expected. I really like the character development, too - no silly 'skill trees' that have become an unnecessary gimmick in most role-playing games; it's all handled through equipment. It's really nifty, but it still demands some of your attention during the game, too. I'm glad SOME game developer finally found a way to make character development involving without becoming distracting.

It's hard enough to find time to play anything with school, though (and I can't blog if I don't play!). With the release of Rock Band 2 imminent, though, I'm sure I'll find time to play again soon...

Tales of Vesperia!

2008-08-30T11:37:00.006-05:00

The past two weeks have seen the commencement of yet another academic year (a tired excuse for such a long posting hiatus, I know) but I managed to take some time out amidst the hustle and bustle of the new school year to grab this little gem: Tales of Vesperia, a multiplayer RPG that released just in time for the long labor day weekend.

It's a shame I can't find that fourth xbox 360 controller...I may have to buy a new one just for this game...

Kid-Friendly Games, Parent-Friendly Prices (and a question or two for readers...)

2008-08-17T11:06:00.008-05:00

Apparently Toys-R-Us is having a 'buy one Xbox 360 game, get another xbox 360 game half-price' sale this week, August 17-23.

Quick note: The "half-off" discount applies to whatever game has a lower in-store price, so it's probably best to buy a couple of high-price recently released games with this deal. Moreover, you can't buy a copy of Beautiful Katamari ($7.68 in-store right now) and expect to get a half-price discount on the $160 Rock Band bundle.

In my case, I'll probably pick up Soul Calibur IV - I'm a big fan of the series, but Namco's treatment of the franchise, especially with this new iteration, has made me somewhat angry (scantily clad female characters, for example, dominate this game), so I decided that I wouldn't buy the game unless I could get it for cheap. I want very much to play the game, but I figure that "voting with my dollar"
as a matter of priniciple is more important.

Has anyone ever had a similar experience where you really want to play/buy a new game, but some morally objectionable content dissuades you from doing so? What would you do in such a situation?

Summer Silence

2008-08-11T13:37:00.006-05:00

If you (like me) are experiencing some sort of spiritual, physical, or mental fatigue right now (whether or not it's related to gaming), The Anchoress blog has the right prescription: an online retreat. Give it a look-see if you need a diversion from the hectic summertide.

Gaming lull...

2008-08-10T11:49:00.004-05:00

I've been very busy on my supposed "week off" - I haven't touched a video game since my last blog spot, believe it or not. A Player Diary for FFIV is looking highly unlikely now, but I can affirm that the story, with its focus on light and darkness, seems to lean closer to the Christian view of things (where things simply are or are not good than the ying/yang Taoist dichotomy that ulitmately makes everything a collective abyss. It's a long play-through, and it's frustratingly difficult at times, but this makes the experience all the more fulfilling.

In Story of a Soul, St. Therese tells us that God allows suffering in order to bring us closer to Him; in the psalms, we learn that God chastises those who are close to him. Final Fantasy IV DS reflects this in both its narrative and in the actual gameplay itself - as I said, it's a long haul, but it's worth it in the end.

On Temperance, Prudence and Purchasing Video Games

2008-08-03T17:32:00.002-05:00

As a Catholic and as a gamer, I recognize that there’s a fine line between gaming for the glory of God and glorifying games INSTEAD of God. The cardinal virtue of temperance is absolutely essential in order to distinguish between the two. Scripture tells us that “for everything there is a season, and a time and a manner for everything under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2). Catholic gamers would do well to remember that only a portion and not the entirety of their God-given existence is to be spent here on earth, let alone playing video games.

In the decision to purchase a video game, though, the virtue of prudence must be exercised, as well. Ever since video game violence first became a nationwide controversy in the ‘90s, there’s been no shortage of media coverage – including the Catholic media – regarding unsavory video game content, and while I personally believe that extolling the evils of violence in video games has became something of a tired refrain and easy scapegoat these days, I’m glad that, at least, there’s some attention to the issue now. But there’s no amount of media coverage or preventive legislation that can replace good parenting, and the complete lack of prudence on the part of some parents disturbs me greatly.

I’ll never forget the time I saw a youngster (I’d guess that he was, oh, maybe7 or 8 years old?) in a game store petitioning his mother to purchase the kid-friendly Gamecube game Luigi’s Mansion, which not only carries “E for Everyone” ESRB rating, but was available for a very inexpensive $20. The mother, however, had her eyes on the even cheaper item on an adjacent shelf: Turok, an “M for Mature” rated game featuring violence, foul language (as advertised on the box!) was available for a measly $10. The mother, seizing the opportunity to save $$$$, replied to her child in turn. “Honey, how about this one instead?” The child shrugged his shoulders and acquiesced. He went home that day with a game someone of his age should never play.

The obvious lack of prudence on the mother’ s part notwithstanding, it’s worth mentioning that Turok is a very low-quality game irrespective of the level of objectionable content. I would never recommend the game to even the most hardcore FPS (that’s “first-person shooter”, for those unacquainted with video game lingo) fanatic – the game is just completely intolerable, featuring slipshod controls, bad graphics, and tepid, repetitive gameplay. I do, think, however, that despite the game’s objectionable content (which renders it unsuitable for consumption for the younger set), there’s nothing in the game, morally speaking, that would make it unsuitable for a more mature crowd.

Part of the reason I started this blog to begin with was a perceived need for more information on this subject. Despite ESRB ratings, most parents I know are woefully ignorant of the content in videogames, and seeing as prudential judgment implies an informed conscience, the lack of knowledge (and in some cases, a lack of scruples, as the aforementioned story demonstrates) on the part of many parents about videogames as a whole is simply not acceptable. If my knowledge of the medium and its various minutiae can aid in abetting this problem, I will gladly share it.

I realize that what presents a temptation to sin for one may not present such a temptation for another – people of various ages and temperaments can digest various forms of media while others can’t, and such situations call for the discerning Christian to utilize prudential judgment. But for children who are unable to make such judgments, parental guidance is an absolute necessity; try as I might to lend my association with this medium to those who need it, I cannot be a substitute for a parent, who knows their child better than I ever could. So, for any parent reading this: know what game your child is buying/playing. Not everything is ok for a kid to play.

There are even some games that, dare I say it, NO ONE should play. Some games (like some movies and books) simply aren’t worth your time, and it’s actually not too hard to know a game falls into this category.

For example, just a few days ago, new information was released about the upcoming action game, Bayonetta. Now, the game’s premise is dodgy enough: playing as a witch who is quite literally hell-bent on killing angels certainly can’t be very wholesome, regardless of the merits of the gameplay, but tack on some posts from the link from the forum above, and…well, see for yourself:

“Bayonetta's outfit isn't actually leather despite the stitching you see in the CG art - It's magical hair that covers her entire body, and it's used in her attacks. The most powerful ones render her almost completely nude.”

“A fine mist covers the ground during the miniboss battle, designed to create a "holy atmosphere". The battle ends with an onscreen button prompt, which summons a giant hair dragon who bites the angel miniboss in half.”

I shiver at the thought of some parent(s) buying this game for their 8-year-old when it’s released sometime in the coming year. In the modern American lexicon, prudential judgment sometimes goes by another name: common sense. I pray that parents (particularly those of the Catholic variety) start employing it more frequently.

Patience! (Warning! Amatuer theologizing ahead!)

2008-07-31T17:17:00.005-05:00

There is an important lesson to be learned from the gameplay (irrespective of the virtues of the game's story) of Final Fantasy IV, and that is the powerful benefits of patience. Saints have written about it in ways that I can't possibly emulate here and now, explaining eloquently and emphatically that God's power over time is not something that man need not fuss over. Human beings need time; but God Himself created time. We do not know "the day or the hour," for example, but God, in his "eternal-present" moment, does, and he assures us that, even though we suffer, we "are worth more than many sparrows."

As I play (and hopefully finish soon!)Final Fantasy IV, with its "active-time" battle system (where a meter slowly fills up over time before any action can be taken in battle) and its unrelentingly difficult boss battles, I will admit that my patience, (along with yours, I'm sure, as you wait for the eventual player diary) is being tested. The fact that my brother's recent excursion to Canada yielded the unexpected blessing of the new PC game The Political Machine 2008 doesn't exactly help the matter. But the rewards, as of now, have been worthwhile. I've enjoyed the story of this game far more than I expected I would, and I will be writing about it more extensively later. But for now, I merely ask for your patience as I finish this game. I'll do my best to make the wait worthwhile, but in the meantime, here's a particular saint quote that I find appropriate for this particular moment in time:

"What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know." - St. Augustine

Kid-Friendly Games, Parent Friendly Prices

2008-07-28T09:15:00.004-05:00

Best Buy has a special deal for the recently released (and critically well-received) Wii game Blast Works. As of now, the game is available for a measely $9.99.

Toys R' Us is selling the Xbox 360 game Beautiful Katamari for $7.68.

I have not played either game, but both carry an "E for Everyone" ESRB rating, so content-wise there shouldn't be anything to worry about.